Algardi Firedogs
The Algardi Firedogs (French - "chenets de l'Algarde") are two small bronze sculptural groups, individually entitled "Jupiter holding his thunderbolt, seated on a terrestrial globe supported by three Titans" and "Juno carried by the winds". Originals. The originals were commissioned as the fronts of andirons or firedogs from the Roman sculptor Alessandro Algardi for Philip IV of Spain by Diego Velázquez in 1650 whilst he was Spanish ambassador to the Italian states, and he ordered four bronzes symbolizing the four elements of the court of Spain. Though they were incomplete on his death and had to be completed by  his pupils. He had only completed the first two in a planned set of four before his death and so the other two ("Neptune carried by the waters" and "Cybele carried by the earth") were produced by his children. Philip did not use them as firedogs but as decorative elements for the garden of his Aranjuez Palace. France. Other 17th century foundries produced copies for other royal courts, especially the "Juno" and "Jupiter". For example, a set of these two was delivered to the Palace of Versailles in 1684. Louis XIV placed them in niches in the oval salon, but  Louis XV passed them to the marquis de Marigny, director of the Bâtiments du roi, who displayed them in the château de Ménars. After the marquis' death, they were moved to the Louvre in 1795, before being converted to support a pendulum clock at Napoleon's palace of château de Saint-Cloud. The two groups were then moved to the palais des Tuileries, where in 1845 they were part-gilded by Charles Christofle. The "Juno" is now lost, but the "Jupiter" is now on display in the Louvre. Two similar "Juno" and "Jupiter" groups were also owned by the Grand  Dauphin, initially displaying them in the château de Choisy then from 1695 in the château de Meudon.