Silent Stories#2

Statues have a way of finding me. I don't set out to photograph them, yet they appear—in plazas, gardens, and street corners—each with its own silent story. Some are famous, others almost forgotten, but all of them invite a pause. Perhaps they fascinate me because public statues are relatively uncommon back home in Malaysia, so every encounter feels like discovering a small piece of another culture. What began as a simple fascination has become a journey of discovering the stories hidden within these silent works of art. 

Here’s the second encounter in my Silent Stories series — another statue that found me.

Equestrian statue of Louis XIV

The sculpture of King Louis XIV in the Cour Napoléon of the Louvre (near the I.M. Pei Pyramid) is a lead cast replica of an original equestrian statue by Italian Baroque master Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Installed in 2009, this casting was made in 1988 from the original marble masterpiece currently housed at the Palace of Versailles.

Historical Background

In 1665, the young king Louis XIV ("The Sun King") invited Bernini to Paris to design a new facade for the Louvre Palace. While Bernini's architectural designs for the Louvre were ultimately rejected in favor of French classical styles, his portrait bust of the king was a massive success, leading the king to commission an equestrian statue.

The Saga of the Original Statue

Bernini did not finish the equestrian statue until 1677, years after he left Paris. When Louis XIV finally viewed the completed piece, he hated it. He ordered it destroyed, but was persuaded instead to have it relegated to the grounds of Versailles. He later commissioned French sculptor François Girardon to "fix" the statue. Girardon modified the king's facial features, changed the mane, and altered the context so the sculpture depicted the Roman hero Marcus Curtius sacrificing himself, rather than Louis XIV. Today, the modified original remains on display at the Palace of Versailles in the Orangerie.