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!