When history inspires

Italian marble currently residing at the Louvre, Paris
photo credit: Nate Otto - Seattle

In 1698, a statue of Neptune stabbing a horse was commissioned from the artist Antoine Coysevox.

It was placed at the palace of Versailles.

The piece is now sitting in the sculpture collection of the Louvre Museum in Paris, surrounded by equally beautiful marble pieces.

Since Coysevox died in 1720 at the age of 80, he was 58 when this piece was created. One of his first celebrated pieces, was a statue of Madonna he sculpted at age 17.

How inspiring for artists of any age to constantly work at their medium even into their 70’s.

Coysevox constantly challenged the styles of his day. He pushed from baroque styles, typical of cathedral and tomb statuary to Rococo which celebrated secular beings and their full personalities. Just one of the many stages within art history where artist’s pushed the common day boundaries.