Marly Horses

They were commissioned by Louis XV of France for the trough at the entrance to the grounds of his château de Marly.

[1] Louis XV chose the modellos in 1743 and the full-size sculptures were completed in only two years, being installed at Marly in 1745.

They proved highly successful in reproduction, particularly on a smaller scale, and prefigured Théodore Géricault and other Romantic artists' obsession with equestrian subjects.

In 1984 it was concluded that the annual military parades on 14 July were damaging the sculptures and they were replaced by marble copies produced by Michel Bourbon in the studio of a subsidiary of Bouygues.

The original sculptures were moved to a former courtyard in the Richelieu wing of the Louvre Museum, which was renamed the 'cour Marly' in their honour, whilst Bourbon's two main copies were moved to the originals' first site near the trough at Marly, with work overseen by the architect Serge Macel.