Louis de France called the Grand Dauphin (1661-1711), after a model by François Girardon (1628-1715) The Queen of France, Marie Thérèse of Austria (1638-1683) after a model by François Girardon (1628-1715) and Martin Desjardins 1637-1694) A pair of bronze busts with brown patina H: 50 cm in total Marble pedestal - H: 13 cm Literature: -François Girardon et Martin Desjardins, Marie Thérèse d’Autriche, vers 1685-90 buste en marbre, H. 83 cm musée des Beaux-Arts de Troyes, inv. 834.8. -François Girardon, Le Grand Dauphin, vers 1692, buste en bronze, H. 43, 3 cm, collection particulière -École française de la fin du XVIIème siècle d’après un modèle de François Girardon, le Grand Dauphin et Marie Thérèse, reine de France, H. : 51 et 49,6 cm, ca. 1680, The Walter Art Museum, n°inv. 27413 et 27.414 -XVIIIème siècle d’après un modèle de François Girardon, le Grand Dauphin et Marie-Thérèse, reine de France, paire de bronzes H. 41,5 cm, New-York, The Frick Collection, inv.1915.2.64 et 1915.2.65 This pair of bronze busts of the Grand Dauphin and his mother, Queen Maria Theresa of Austria, testifies of the grand style of Louis XIV’s century and the glorification of the royal family. François Girardon, the King’s sculptor, knew how to honor the art of portraiture by freeing it from its traditional funerary context. He promoted this art, essential to the commemoration of sovereigns and great dignitaries, worthy of praise and immortality. He depicts here a rather flattering image of Louis de France, son of Louis XIV and heir to the throne. He particularly cared for the armor and high wig, diverting attention from the young man's face, attenuating his goiter with the presence of a thin scarf tied around his neck. The original bronze cast, now kept in a private collection, is believed to have been made around 1692. It is depicted on plate 2 of the engraving of the Gallerie de Girardon, which was published in 1709. The work was originally placed in pendant with a bronze bust of King Louis XIV, probably to highlight the idea of dynastic continuity. In addition to this original model by Girardon, two other bronze examples of the Grand Dauphin are known. Like our bust, the versions of the Walter Art Museum and the Frick Collection are paired with a bust of Queen Maria Theresa of Austria, mother of the Dauphin. The model for this rather hieratic portrait of the wife of Louis XIV was commissioned by the Marquis de Villacerf, Edouard Colbert, to adorn his private home. A painting depicting the Jardin d’Eau of Chateau de Villacerf features in this sale. As requested by Colbert, the original marble bust was executed jointly by Girardon and Desjardins around 1690. At that time, Colbert had not yet received the office of Inspector General of the King's Buildings (1695), but the bust of the late Queen, paired with the one of Louis XIV (both preserved in the Troyes Museum), testifies of the loyalty of this servant who exercised the office of First Master of the Queen's Household. It is therefore not an official portrait of the Queen, but a private and posthumous tribute of a great servant to the royal couple. The inventory after the death of the artist Girardon in 171 attests of the presence in the sculptor’s collections of a plaster representing Marie-Thérèse, as well as, as we have seen, the bronze bust of the Dauphin. It is not known under what circumstances the busts of the Grand Dauphin and his mother were paired. Other examples of marble busts of Louis de France and his mother were made by Coysevox for the Chateau de Meudon, now in the Palace de Aranjuez collections. However, another hypothesis can be put forward: the creator of the 18th century pair may have been misled by Girardon's after-death’s inventory which misunderstood the identity of the sitter: indeed in no. 215 of the document, the Grand Dauphin is mistaken for his father Louis XIV. With this mistake, the primitive idea of pairing the two figures could have been to represent the royal couple, Louis XIV and Marie-Thérèse. Finally, the casting of the only three currently known pairs, ours and those of Baltimore and New York, had to be made after 1718, when the original bronze of the Grand Dauphin was sold.