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Marly Horses

Marly Horses is a pair of symmetrical sculptural groups in Carrara marble by the French sculptor Guillaume Coustou the Elder, created between 1743 and 1745. They show rearing horses being restrained by their handlers and were commissioned by King Louis XV to restore the sculptural setting of the park and Château de Marly. Installed at Marly in 1745, the works were later moved to Paris and, after the Revolution, placed near the entrance to the Champs-Élysées. In the 1980s the originals were transferred to the Louvre, where they are now displayed in the Cour Marly. The groups are celebrated for their Baroque dynamism, expressive force, and lasting influence on later artists.

Marly Horses bronze sculpture of a rearing horse and a muscular man wrestling it with a staff.
Marly Horses, shown here as a bronze sculpture of a man struggling with a rearing horse.
January 2022 © · CC BY-SA 4.0
Marly Horses, a dark bronze sculpture of a muscular man restraining a rearing horse.
Marly Horses shown in dark bronze, with a muscular figure struggling to control a rearing horse.
January 2022 © · CC BY-SA 4.0
Drawing of the Marly Horses showing two rearing horses restrained by muscular male figures on ornate pedestals.
Monochrome drawing of the Marly Horses, with two dramatic rearing horses and their restraining figures shown on pedestals.
· Public domain
The Marly Horses surrounded by wooden scaffolding and a large conical temporary enclosure near an ornate fence and stone wall.
The Marly Horses appear to be under protective work, surrounded by scaffolding and a temporary enclosure in the Tuileries Gardens.
© Agence de presse Meurisse. Agence photographique (commanditaire) · Public domain
The Marly Horses covered with helmets, with people climbing on the monument and a crowd watching below.
The Marly Horses at Place de la Concorde covered with helmets as people climb on the monument amid a watching crowd.
© Agence de presse Meurisse. Agence photographique (commanditaire) · Public domain

Identification

TitleMarly Horses
Alternative nameChevaux retenus par des palefreniers
Alternative nameCavalli tenuti dai palafrenieri
Original titleLes Chevaux de Marly
Original titleI Cavalli di Marly
TypeSculptural group
Number of sculpturesTwo symmetrical paired sculptural groups
Original language titleChevaux de Marly

Historical context

Earlier sculptures moved toThe Tuileries Gardens in 1719
Earlier sculptures replacedMercury on Horseback with Pegasus and Fame on Horseback with Pegasus by Antoine Coysevox
Purpose of commissionTo replace the earlier sculptural groups by Antoine Coysevox at the entrance to the park and château of Marly
Commissioned in1739
Commissioned byKing Louis XV of France

Creator

ArtistGuillaume Coustou the Elder
Model approvalApproved by the king in 1743
Models usedCoustou drew directly in the royal stables and hired models to pose for the groom figures
Influences / modelsLate antique sculptural groups of the Dioscuri in Rome, the Horses of Apollo by Gaspard and Balthazar Marsy at Versailles, and Robert Le Lorrain's Horses of the Sun (1737)

Discovery and provenance

Replaced by copies in1984
Relocation supervised byArchitect Serge Macel
Copies installed atThe original site near the watering place of the former Château de Marly, Marly-le-Roi, Yvelines
Additional authorized copyAn extra copy was authorized for Bouygues Construction headquarters
Copies made byMichel Bourbon
Copies installed in1985
Copies produced inAn atelier of a Bouygues subsidiary
Restored byLouis-Denis Caillouette
Restored in1840
Current location of originalsThe Louvre Museum, in the former courtyard of the Richelieu wing now called Cour Marly
Moved in1794
Moved toPlace de la Concorde, Paris
Completed and installedInstalled at Marly in 1745 after two years of work
Original installation siteThe basin known as the Marly watering place (Vivier de Marly), at the entrance to the park of the Château de Marly

Physical characteristics

MaterialCarrara marble
Block formMonolithic marble blocks
TechniqueSculpted from monolithic marble blocks
SubjectTwo rearing horses struggling with their grooms
Human figures depictedTwo nude, muscular grooms or stablehands, described as Native American slaves, with quivers
Horse depictionThe horses rear up with disheveled manes and dilated nostrils and eyes

Iconography and meaning

Europe figure descriptionFigure without attributes
America figure descriptionMale figure of Negro type wearing a feathered hat
Allegorical interpretationOne figure is thought to represent America and the other Europe
Iconographic characterNon-allegorical and non-mythological subject

Appearance

StyleBaroque dynamism and expressiveness
Stylistic characterizationTense dynamism, complex outline, pictorial richness of forms, sweep and force of movement, and a vivid sense of struggle and resistance
Stylistic balanceBaroque expressiveness is subordinated to strict rhythmic organization and overall unity of impression
Artistic effectA vivid depiction of the struggle between wild and opposing forces
Observation of natureCareful observation from nature, especially in the rendering of equine anatomy and the horses' furious expression

Significance

ReceptionHighly successful and widely reproduced in small-scale replicas
Later receptionSuccessful in the Romantic era
Influence on artistsPrefigured Théodore Géricault's fascination with horses, including Races of Wild Horses in Rome (1817)
Admired byEugène Delacroix and Victor Hugo
Influence on other sculptureServed as one of the prototypes for Peter Clodt's Taming the Horse by Man for the Anichkov Bridge in Saint Petersburg (1838–1843)
Art-historical style contextReflects Coustou's individual style rooted in the grand style of the second half of the 17th century, when Baroque and Classicism coexisted organically
Artistic significanceAmong Guillaume Coustou's last works; he died in 1746 one year after their completion
Modern cultural referenceUsed as the logo image for the perfume brand Parfums de Marly from 2009
Later use as image motifCentral motif of the monochrome 819-line RTF/ORTF test card used on TF1 from 1953 to 1983