page_title: Equestrian statue of Louis XIV (Bernini)
section_title: The Vision of Constantine
hierarchical_section_title: Equestrian statue of Louis XIV (Bernini) / Culmination of Themes in Bernini's Work / The Vision of Constantine
caption_attribution_description: English: Scala Regia
context_page_description: The Equestrian Statue of King Louis XIV is a sculpture designed and partially executed by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who was originally brought to France to design a new facade of the Louvre, a portrait bust, and an equestrian statue. Bernini first discussed the project while in France in the mid-1660s, but it did not start until later in the decade, when back in Rome. It was not completed until 1684, and then shipped to Paris in 1685. Louis XIV of France was extremely unhappy with the end result and had it placed in a corner of the gardens of the royal palace at Versailles. Soon after, the sculpture was modified by François Girardon and altered into an equestrian sculpture of the ancient Roman hero Marcus Curtius.
context_section_description: In his process to construct the equestrian statue, Bernini referred back to one of his earlier works, the Vision of the Emperor Constantine, which began construction in 1654 and was completed in late 1669.
  The equestrian statue of Louis XIV was designed with his earlier work on the equestrian monument of the emperor Constantine in Rome in mind, with both horses striking similar poses and neither riders holding reins or stirrups. Whereas Constantine's gestures were raised above him to convey the vision of the Holy Cross and God above him, the Sun King’s gestures are grounded to convey his mundane and non-divine power in an act that Bernini termed as an ‘act of majesty and command'.
  Unlike the statue of Constantine, the statue of Louis XIV had been carved from a single block of stone, to be 'the largest ever seen in Rome," according to early biographers.
caption: Gianlorenzo bernini, costantino, 1670, 02
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