Sunday, March 24, 2013

Equestrian statues à la française... Oh là là!

Fontaine des Quatre-Parties du Monde: Place Camille-Jullian Paris - Chevaux marins - Emmanuel Frémiet: 1875
 Looking over photos the other day I realised that I had quite a few devoted to horses... My photos of the 'real thing' aren't as good as those of a little person that I know. Anyway, I seem to have concentrated more on statues, so here are a few of my favourites. These are usually the more exuberant, exagerated variety but there are a few sober ones too. 

Expressive horsey-lips!
 The above is of a group of marine horses which I love for their billowing manes and flaying hooves but these same characteristics feature in a number of statues... As do curling, contorted lips that make the beasts in question look as if they're deep in conversation.

Chantilly - Ecurie 
Or are just plain poetic, with dazed expressions bordering on the smoochy, or love-sick!

Façade - Reims
Other seem to be above such trivialities and have more serious issues at hand...

Versailles - Fountain of Apollo - J-B Tuby - 1669
Like helping the Gods...

Immortalité devant le Temps: Grand Palais - Paris - Georges Récipon 1900
 As the defeated take a tumble...

Grand Palais Paris - Harmony triumphing over Discord - Georges Récipon - 1900 
Or bearing them...
Louvre - Mercury - Coyseovx





 Or putting up a certain resistance...

Cheval de Marly - Coysevox

Sometimes understandable in view of the circumstances...

Notre Dame - Paris
 Some weight is just too great to bear, bringing even the most valiant horse to its knees...

La Joie de Vivre: Jardins du Trocadéro - Paris - L.E Drivier 1937
 Some discontent is displayed in laid-back ears...

Chevaux et Chien : Jardin du Trocadéro - Paris - G.Guyot 1937
Lavish golden wings cannot distract us from defiant rolling eyes...

La Renommée des Arts: Pont Alexandre III - Paris - E. Frémiet 1997
Bared teeth and brandished hooves, ready to strike out...

La Renommée des Sciences: Pont Alexandre III - Paris - E. Frémiet 1997


 As they follow with a certain reluctance...

La Renommée au Combat: Pont Alexandre III - Paris - Pierre Granet 1900
Ever-ready to show their untamed will and bestial force...

La Renommée de la Guerre: Pont Alexandre III - Paris - L Steiner 1900
Guarding the crossings over the river...


Guerrier romain: Pont d'Iéna - Paris - L-J Daumas 1849
 Dutifully watching over the four corners of the bridge...

Greek horseman - Pont d'Iéna - Paris - F. Devault 1849
 Unbridled, yet obedient...

Le Cavalier Arabe - Pont d'Iéna - Paris - -J-J Feuchère c. 1851
 Keeping an eye on future monuments that would come to symbolize the City of Light from the turn of the century...

Guerrier Gaulois: Pont d'Iéna -Paris - A.A Préault 1849
Certain horses guard the entrances of famous sites, yet in such a fearful manner...

L'Inspiration guidée par la Sagesse: Palais de la Découverte - Paris - A.Falguière 1900
That they have to be held down...

La Science en marche en dépit de l'Ignorance: Palais de la Découverte - V.Peter - Paris - 1900
Some horses are forcibly lead to bear emperors...

Charlemagne: Cathédral de Notre Dame - Paris - Louis and Charles Rochet 1882?
 Others blaze ahead to Gallic battle...

Clermont-Ferrand - Vercingetorix - Bartholdi - 1903
Or proudly carry kings, without encouragement or harness of any form...

Louvre - Louis XIV - Bernini - 1687
Others walk on in more collected manner, in the search of the French king...

Place des Pyramides/Rue de Rivoli Paris - Jeanne d'Arc - Emmanuel Frémiet

On the road to Reims...

Reims cathedral - Jeanne d'Arc - Paul Dubois - 1996
Others adopt a similarly sober mood...

Hôtel de Ville - Paris - Etienne Marcel - Antonin Idrac - mid 19th century

And a noble stance that is reflected in elsewhere...even if some were to meet virtual destruction, as was the case for the statue below, during the Revolution years...

Pont Neuf Paris - Henri IV - Pietro Tacca - 1618

Others try to create an air of nobility and sobriety, but seem to have been off-target. For all the grandeur of the edifice, I think that the jaunty horses below look peculiar, even if they were based on those of Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice...

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel  - Paris - under Napoleon Bonaparte - 1809
Other horses are used in reference to heroic figures from distant lands...

Washington: Place d'Iéna - Paris 16e - Daniel Chester French 1900
Noble steads from the Americas cross the Parisian parks... 

Lafayette: Cours La Reine - Paris - P.W Bartlett 1900
Yet their eyes seem fixed on far-away horizons... 

Simon Bolivar - Place du Canada - Paris - E. Frémiet 1930
Other horses pay tribute to men closer to home, with battles played out on European soil, but taking on global proportions during the First World War...

Général Foch: Trocadéro -Paris - R.Wlérick and R.Martin 1936
 Swords are no longer brandished, but the mood seems darker and deadly than ever...

Maréchal Joffre: Ecole Militaire - Paris - Maxime Real del Sarte 1939
These horses seem to be the mere shadows of their predecessors...

Albert 1er Roi des Belges: Cours La Reine - Paris - A.Martial 1936
In view of the widespread loss of man and beast during the war years, the statue that best captures the battle-fatigue at the end of this period is perhaps the following...

Russian Expedition Corps: Place du Canada - Paris 8e - Vladimir Sourovtsev 2010
Sometimes the discomfort and fear are just too visible....
Cheval à la Herse - Quai d'Orsay - Paris - P.L Rouillard 1878
 Finally an equestrian figure looking duly aghast - and who could blame it - like many to be found above traditional butcher's shops specializing in horse meat...

Paris - Boucherie Chevaline
And to finish, one of my favourite horse figures, in England this time. The expression is so moving with the incredible detail and intricacy of the work that makes the marble look like porcelain...

Horse bust - Birmingham Art Gallery and Museum - UK

However I do miss the panache of the French models...


No danger of these two being taken for world-weary nags!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Spitting ice...


The snow came back again last week, followed closely by the bright sun. The facettes of the central stained glass window on the cathedral reflected all the light so that they looked like molten lead...


 And as everything thawed, the gargoyles began decoratively spitting ice.


The leadened gargoyle, pictured above, was just as mean in behaviour as appearance, as it spat down its icy load near my feet literally the second I took out the camera . I was lucky it didn't crown me!



 Whilst from dizzying heights water was dripping down...


 And freezing again...

Meanwhile, the chimeras looked on haughtily, indifferent to the human scrabblings below...


 Back down on humble ground level, dripping water created weird ectoplasm that was worthy of something from Doctor Who!


And as the sun started to go down, and the shadows crept over the cathedral again, some of the gargoyles took on a sinister aspect...


 But some forms looked a little more friendly...


Even if this particular snowman was the smallest one I'd ever seen!