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This Exquisite Bronze Group Portrays the French Queen Marie Leczinska (1703-1768), Wife of King Louis XV (1710-1774), As The

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This Exquisite Bronze Group Portrays the French Queen Marie Leczinska (1703-1768), Wife of King Louis XV (1710-1774), As The MARIE LECZINSKA AS JUNO Bronze, on ormolu base Late 18th – early 19th Century, After a model by Guillaume Coustou the Elder (1677-1746) H 76 cm (with base) H 30 in This exquisite bronze group portrays the French Queen Marie Leczinska (1703-1768), wife of King Louis XV (1710-1774), as the Roman goddess Juno, the protectress and special counselor of the state. The qu een is depicted draped in the robes of a classical goddess and standing on a cloud. In her right hand she is holding the Crown of France, while a putto on her left offers her a scepter. Her right hand rests on a shield sporting the coat of arms of the French Monarchy. A peacock, Juno’s sacred animal, is sitting at her feet, curiously looking around. The deified queen is presented in a very individualized and youthful manner with extraordinary vividness and great charm. www.nicholaswells.com This group was closely modeled after a life-size marble original by Guillaume Coustou the Elder (1677-1746), that is currently part of the collection of sculptures of the Louvre (MR 1813) after having adorned a great number of royal residences throughout its existence. The original marble version of the group was commissioned in 1725, probably by the Directeur général des Bâtiments du Roi, the Duke of Antin. Guillaume Coustou the Elder seems to have been the logical choice for the project, since, at the time, his elder brother Nicolas had already started working on a pendant composition representing Louis XV as Jupiter (Louvre, MR 1811). For creating Marie Leczinska as Juno The Duchess of Burgundy as Diana, Coustou took some inspiration from the 1710, French, marble, by A. Coysevox, marble representing the Duchesse de Bourgogne Louvre (MR 1817), Paris as Diana (Louvre, MR 1817) that his uncle, Antoine Coysevox, had created for the Duke of Antin just before the death of the duchess in 1710. Both these deified portraits exhibit a remarkable liveliness in their depiction of the respective sitters and the animals accompanying these divinities. Both compositions also clearly reveal a strong interest in elaborate drapery and the meticulous rendering of different textures. This preoccupation has been particularly masterfully translated to the present bronze. However, compared to Coysevox’s Diana, Coustou’s group is in many ways a less Rococo piece of work, more solidly handled, more compact in its design, and slightly more static in its pose. After its completion in 1731 the marble of Marie Leczinska as Juno entered the Duke of Antin’s collection of sculptures that Louis XV as Jupiter, 1731, embellished the Château de Petit Bourg, where it French, marble, by N. Coustou, Louvre (MR 1811), Paris was on view together with Coysevox’s marble that had inspired it, until the Duke’s death in 1736. www.nicholaswells.com Marie Leczinska was born at Breslau in 1703, to Catherine Opalinska and Stanislaw Leszczynski, who in 1704 was elected King Stanislaw I of Poland. After the deposition of her father in 1709, the family fled Poland and eventually settled in Wissembourg in the French province of Alsace. In 1725 Marie was chosen to become Louis XV’s queen, a move widely regarded as a mesalliance. Although as a queen, she never really had any direct influence on French politics, her Polish dynastic connections got France involved in at least one major European conflict. As a result of the marriage, France entered the War of the Polish Succession against Austria in 1733 in support of Stanislaw’s claims to the Polish throne. In 1738 Stanislaw was made Duke of Lorraine by the treaty that ended the conflict and, in accordance with the same treaty, Lorraine eventually became a part of France, when Marie Leczinska as Juno, 1731, French, marble, by G. Coustou, Stanislaw himself died the following year. Louvre (MR 1813), Paris By this time however, Louis XV, had already lost interest in his queen, and was lavishing his attentions on a succession of mistresses. From 1737 onwards their relationship significantly deteriorated, reaching an absolute low when the dauphin died in 1765. Although both king and queen officially continued to fulfill their ceremonial duties side by side, the king only paid ceremonial visits to her rooms, and the royal court, wary of her loss of the king's affections, only attended to her when court representation required so. As a consequence Marie ceased to participate in court life outside of what was required to perform her ceremonial role, and preferred to retire to her private apartments with an intimate circle of friends. Among her closest friends were her grand almoner Cardinal de Luynes, Duke Charles Philippe d'Albert de Luynes, and her dame d'honneur Marie Brûlart, who was married to the Duke of Luynes. Her close relationship with the de Luynes made her a frequent visitor to their Château at Dampierre, where she found refuge from life at the royal court and where she even had her own private apartments. Marie Leczinska eventually died on 24 June 1768 at the age of 65. Unlike most other members of the French royal family, she was highly www.nicholaswells.com popular and beloved among the public, and her death deprived the French monarchy of one of its then greatest propaganda assets. She was entombed at the Basilica of St. Denis (Paris), while her heart was transferred to the Church of Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours in Nancy (Lorraine). Guillaume Coustou (1677-1746) Born in 1677, Guillaume Coustou trained with his elder brother, Nicolas, and their maternal uncle, Antoine Coysevox, in Paris. In 1697 he won the Prix de Rome, but he was not awarded a place at the Académie de France in Rome. He nevertheless traveled to Italy at his own expense, where he studied under Pierre Legros, whose lively Baroque style had a profound influence on him. In 1700 he returned to France, where he assisted Coysevox in his work on the celebrated statues of Fame and Mercury, commissioned for the park at the Château de Marly (Yvelines). In 1704 he became a member of the Académie Royale, presenting the virtuously carved dynamic marble statuette of Hercules on the Funeral Pyre. After a brilliant career, he eventually became rector of the Académie in 1733. Coustou worked mainly for the French Crown, receiving numerous commissions from the Bâtiments du Roi. From 1707 onwards he made significant contributions to the sculptural decoration of the chapel of the Château de Versailles. For the park at Marly, he carved running statues of Hippomenes and Daphne. With Coysevox and his brother Nicolas, he worked on the last great official project of Louis XIV’s reign, carving the kneeling statue of Louis XIII in the choir of the Notre- Dame de Paris. Demand for Coustou’s work did not wane in the years following Louis XIV’s death and he received a great number of prestigious private commissions. He proved himself to be a versatile sculptor, as he carved the decorations for Horse Restrained by a Groom called Horse of Marly, several monumental bridges, 1739-45, carrara marble, by G. Coustou, Louvre (MR 1803), Paris decorated the façade of the Palais- www.nicholaswells.com Bourbon and produced several portrait busts as well as religious sculpture. Guillaume’s ornamental carving for the façade of the Hôtel des Invalides exhibits all the grandeur and authority of the art of Louis XIV’s reign. By the 1730s he was the most prominent sculptor in royal employment, and this status was acknowledged when he was given the commission for the two monumental horses restrained by grooms, that have since become his most celebrated work. These horses, which were commissioned in 1739 for the Abreuvoir in the park at Marly and are now at the Louvre, are considered to be among the absolute masterpieces of 18th century French sculpture and have been widely reproduced, like many of his other works. www.nicholaswells.com Related Literature J-R. Gaborit, ed., Sculpture Française II – Renaissance et temps modernes, 2 vols., Paris, 1998. M. Levey, Painting and Sculpture in France 1700-1789, New Haven, 1993, pp. 69-72. F. Souchal, French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th centuries. The reign of Louis XIV, 4 vols., Oxford - London, 1977-1993. F. Souchal, Les Frères Coustou, Paris, 1980. F. Souchal, (2003, January 01). ‘Coustou family’. Grove Art Online. The French Bronze 1500 to 1800, M. Knoedler et al. ed., New York, 1968..
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