As Toronto based antique appraisers, we were pleased to inspect and appraise this fine pair of 19th Century bronze sculptures for one of our local clients. They have been in his family for over 100 years and are well cast and gilded and have been very well taken care of over the years. A fine heirloom indeed.
This classic pair were cast in the late 1800's and are after originals by the famed sculptor Guillaume Coustou The Elder (1677-1746). The artist was born in Lyon Nov. 29, 1677 and died Feb. 2, 1746 in Paris. He won the Colbert Prize, a four year scholarship to the French Academy in Rome, but soon left. Working for both King Louis XIV and Louis XV, his sculptures are in the Tuileries gardens, Versailles palace and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The pair display two rearing horses with their groom. The original horses were sculpted circa 1743–1745 in Carrera marble and were commissioned by King Louis XV of France for the trough at the entrance to the grounds of his Château de Marly. They are now located at the Louvre Museum in Paris.