It’s unimaginable to overlook the equestrian statue of King Henri IV (1553-1610), situated on the Pont Neuf between the beautiful Place Dauphine and Sq. du Vert Galant on Ile de la Cité. Do you prefer it? Not like different sculptures in Paris, well-known for his or her design, the statue Henri IV is generally identified for its misadventures and legends associated to it.
Sadly, King Henri IV by no means noticed the sculpture devoted to him, as he was assassinated in 1610, earlier than the work was completed. The statue was inaugurated by his inheritor, Louis XIII, in 1614. Right here’s the story:
Development of the Statue Henri iV on Pont Neuf
The bronze statue was commissioned by Queen Marie de Médicis (1575-1642) to pay tribute to his husband, King Henri IV. For the situation, the Queen selected the Pont Neuf, which development completed in 1607.
For the design and execution of the sculpture, the Queen selected one of the best artists of the time in Florence, her birthplace: Jean Bologne (a flemish sculptor, scholar of Michelangelo in Florence) for the horse and Pietro Tacca and his scholar for the King’s statue.
Duke Cosimo II di Medici, the Queen’s cousin, ordered the transportation of the sculpture from Florence to Livorno to be shipped on a vessel path to Paris. The nave left the port of Livorno in November 1613, nevertheless it was the sufferer of a pirate assault and sank within the Gulf of Genova, not removed from town of Savona.
The royal sculpture spent one month submerged within the waters of the Mediterranean Sea till it was rescued at an important expense. The statue was loaded on a brand new vessel and navigated by the Spanish coast, Gibraltar, after which up the Atlantic Ocean to Le Havre in France. A flat-bottom vessel transported the statue on the Seine River upstream to Paris, the place it was lastly inaugurated on 24 August 1614 by Louis XIII.
The equestrian statue of King Henri IV had a peaceable existence till the French Revolution, when it was torn down through the riots of 10 August 1792. The bronze of the sculpture was melted and used to manufacture canons.
A New Statue Henri iV on the Pont Neuf
Through the Consulate and the Empire, the situation remained empty. With the return of the Bourbons, the sculptor Francois Frédéric Lemot was chosen to design a brand new equestrian sculpture impressed by the few stays of the previous statue. Guests can nonetheless see these stays within the Musée de Carnevalet in Le Marais.
For the brand new sculpture, a number of statues of Napoleon and his generals have been melted: the Napoleon on the column in Place de Vendôme and the Napoléon de Houdon on the column of Boulogne.
Through the execution of the brand new equestrian sculpture, 4 little bins containing official paperwork, medals, and three works associated to King Henri IV have been positioned within the stomach of the horse.
In response to a legend, Balthazar Mesnet, one of many carvers of the statue and a loyal Bonapartist, disguise a number of pamphlets and antiroyalist paperwork contained in the statue to revenge his pricey Emperor.
In 1820 the sculpture’s pedestal was accomplished with some basreliefs displaying King Henri distributing meals to the poor (south) and King Henri’s entrance in Paris in 1594 (north). The statue was listed as a Historic Monument in 1992.
Surprises through the Restoration Works
As a result of air pollution and corrosion, the Pont Neuf and the statue King Henri iV went by a deep restoration program from 2005 to 2009, which was seen as the proper probability to discover the sculpture’s mysterious entrails.
The employees may introduce a small endoscopic digital camera within the sculpture by a small minimize on the King’s again. They may discover the 4 referenced bins within the horse’s stomach (presently saved within the Armoire de Fer within the Archives Nationals – Musée de l’Histoire de France). Contained in the King’s backside, the employees additionally discovered some unlisted objects, akin to paperwork, a metallic field, and a picket cylinder. Within the King’s head, they discovered a metallic cylinder with the title of Mesnet engraved.
Sadly, this stuff usually are not in good situation to be deciphered. The one doc the specialists may decypher till now solely accommodates a listing of grasp founders and carvers that participated within the creation of the brand new equestrian sculpture. Maybe someday, with new methods, King Henri will have the ability to reveal all his secrets and techniques.
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