Etienne Le Hongre
Encyclopedia
Bâtiments du Roi
The Bâtiments du Roi was a division of Department of the household of the Kings of France in France under the Ancien Régime. It was responsible for building works at the King's residences in and around Paris.-History:...
at Versailles. Le Hongre was one of the first generation of sculptors formed by the precepts of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture
Académie de peinture et de sculpture
The Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture , Paris, was founded in 1648, modelled on Italian examples, such as the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. Paris already had the Académie de Saint-Luc, which was a city artist guild like any other Guild of Saint Luke...
. At the Bain des Nymphes (1678-80) he was one of the sculptors providing lead bas-reliefs for the fountain setting that featured the work of François Girardon
François Girardon
François Girardon was a French sculptor.He was born at Troyes. As a boy he had for master a joiner and wood-carver of his native town, named Baudesson, under whom he is said to have worked at the chateau of Liebault, where he attracted the notice of Chancellor Séguier...
. Le Hongre provided other bronze figures for the Parterre d'Eau (illustration, right).
Le Hongre was born in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, the son of a menuisier, a carver of furniture and boiseries. He trained in the atelier of Jacques Sarrazin
Jacques Sarrazin
Jacques Sarazin or Sarrazin was a French sculptor, who is less known for his paintings. His preparatory drawings in chalk have become more prominent in recent decades.-Life:...
along with Gaspard and Balthazar Marsy and Pierre Le Gros the Elder
Pierre Le Gros the Elder
Pierre Le Gros the Elder was a French sculptor whose output was largely absorbed by the decoration of the château and the gardens of Versailles, often working to designs provided by Charles Le Brun and collaborating with other sculptors of the Bâtiments du Roi...
, all of whom later worked at Versailles. He was accepted (agréé) at the Académie in June 1653 and went to Rome, provided by the king with a purse of 500 livres; he returned to Paris in 1659. He was accepted as a member of the Académie in April 1667 and taught in the Academy schools as an assistant professor (1670), full professor (1676) and assistant rector (1686), which afforded him the lodgings in the Galeries du Louvre where he died.
Etienne Le Hongre provided decorative architectural sculpture throughout his career: at the Palais du Louvre
Palais du Louvre
The Louvre Palace , on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, is a former royal palace situated between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois...
he was paid 180 livres in 1663, executed pediment trophies on the exterior of the Galerie d'Apollon facing the Seine, 1667, sculpted friezes and masques (working with Jean-Baptiste Tuby
Jean-Baptiste Tuby
Jean-Baptiste Tuby was a French sculptor of Italian origins. He was born in Rome in 1635 and died in Paris in 1700. He is most renowned for the Fountain of Apollo at Versailles.-External links:* Fountain of Apollo at Versailles...
) for the facade now facing the rue de Rivoli, 1668, and provided capitals and sculpted detail for Perrault
Claude Perrault
Claude Perrault is best known as the architect of the eastern range of the Louvre Palace in Paris , but he also achieved success as a physician and anatomist, and as an author, who wrote treatises on physics and natural history.Perrault was born and died in Paris...
's colonnade, 1668-70, for which he received in total 2910 livres. As he showed his skill he was commissioned to sculpt a large figure of Peace for the garden front of the Tuileries, 1666. At Versailles, full-size sculptures were delivered by Le Hongre among many for the Grand cour: Thetis, Plenty, Authority and Africa.
He also worked at the Samaritaine building at the Pont Neuf
Pont Neuf
The Pont Neuf is, despite its name, the oldest standing bridge across the river Seine in Paris, France. Its name, which was given to distinguish it from older bridges that were lined on both sides with houses, has remained....
and at the Château de Choisy
Château de Choisy
The Château de Choisy was a sometime royal French residence in the commune of Choisy-le-Roi in the Val-de-Marne département, not far from Paris...
. He provided stucco figures and reliefs for the Chapel at the Palais du Luxembourg. Working under the direction of the architect François d'Orbay, he provided bas-reliefs in stucco and carved doors for the church of the Premonstratensians in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, Paris.
Garden sculptures for the royal châteaux also occupied him and his assistants through his career. He provided a March and a September for a series of Months at Fontainebleau (1669), a pair of vases for the Grand Trianon
Grand Trianon
The Grand Trianon was built in the northwestern part of the Domain of Versailles at the request of Louis XIV, as a retreat for the King and his maîtresse en titre of the time, the marquise de Montespan, and as a place where the King and invited guests could take light meals away from the strict...
(1671). For the facade facing the Orangerie at Versailles he provided appropriate statues of Zephyr, Flora Vertumnus and Pomona
Pomona
Pomona was a goddess of fruitful abundance in ancient Roman religion and myth. Her name comes from the Latin word pomum, "fruit," specifically orchard fruit. She was said to be a wood nymph and a part of the Numia, guardian spirits who watch over people, places, or homes...
, medallions of Vertumnus and Pomona, and five bas-reliefs of putti engaged in gardening chores (1671). He provided sculptures representing motifs from Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today...
for the small fountains in the Labyrinth
The labyrinth of Versailles
The labyrinth of Versailles was a maze in the Gardens of Versailles with groups of fountains and sculptures depicting Aesop's fables. André Le Nôtre initially planned a maze of unadorned paths in 1665, but in 1669, Charles Perrault, advised Louis XIV to include thirty-nine fountains each...
(1672-73) and much similar work.
His sculptures for the funerary monument to the heart of Louis de Cossé, duc de Brissac (died 1661), for the Orléans chapel in the church of the Celestins, dismantled at the Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, are conserved at the Louvre Museum; they consist of a column and two mourning figures. None of his funerary monuments survive in situ. Nor do his eight suns in glory of gilded lead for the belltower of the Sainte-Chapelle
Sainte-Chapelle
La Sainte-Chapelle is the only surviving building of the Capetian royal palace on the Île de la Cité in the heart of Paris, France. It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion Relics, including the Crown of Thorns - one of the most important relics in medieval...
, removed at the Revolution.
In 1670-74 Le Hongre provided sculptural decorations for the great doors and the high altar in the chapel of the Collège des Quatre-Nations
Collège des Quatre-Nations
The Collège des Quatre-Nations , also known as the Collège Mazarin after its founder, was one of the colleges of the historic University of Paris. It was founded through a bequest by the Cardinal Mazarin...
, Paris, and was one of Antoine Coysevox
Antoine Coysevox
Charles Antoine Coysevox , French sculptor, was born at Lyon, and belonged to a family which had emigrated from Spain...
's collaborators on the funerary monument of Cardinal Mazarin which was still in process of completion at Le Hongre's death.
His last major commission, an equestrian sculpture
Equestrian sculpture
An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin "eques", meaning "knight", deriving from "equus", meaning "horse". A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an "equine statue"...
of Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
intended for the Place Royale at Dijon
Dijon
Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....
was unfinished at his death. The founders, Roger Schabol and François Aubry, both sculptors in their own right, eventually had to sue Le Hongre's heirs for compensation.http://www.patwengraf.com/schabol1.htm Contemporaneous bronze reductions of the monument exist.
He died in his apartments in the Galeries du Louvre and was buried in the church of St Germain l'Auxerrois. His portrait by André Bouys
André Bouys
André Bouys, a French portrait painter and mezzotint engraver, was born at Hyères about the year 1656. He studied under François de Troy, and acquired sufficient reputation to gain admission into the Academy in 1688, when he presented a portrait of the painter Charles de La Fosse, now at...
is conserved in the Musée National du château de Versailles.
Surviving sculptures
- Mary Magdalene, oval bas-relief medallion, marble, 1667 (L) This was his morceau de reception for the Académie. Formerly decorating the staircase in the Académie's quarters in the Louvre, it was moved to the church of Notre-Dame at Versailles in 1815 (Chapel of St. Vincent de Paul).
- Architectural sculpture for the Palais du LouvrePalais du LouvreThe Louvre Palace , on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, is a former royal palace situated between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois...
, 1663, 1667-70 (L) - Funerary monument for Louis de Cossé, duc de Brissac, Orléans (Musée du Louvre)
- Kneeling figure for the funerary monument of Louis Potier, marquis de Gesvres (L) (Musée de Versailles)
- Two Loves and a Nymph, bronze, 1670 (model), 1688 (cast) (L) (Gardens of VersaillesGardens of VersaillesThe Gardens of Versailles occupy part of what was once the Domaine royal de Versailles, the royal demesne of the château of Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectares of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French Garden style perfected here by...
) - Two Tritons and two Sirens, lead, 1669-71 (L) (North Parterre, Gardens of VersaillesGardens of VersaillesThe Gardens of Versailles occupy part of what was once the Domaine royal de Versailles, the royal demesne of the château of Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectares of land, much of which is landscaped in the classic French Garden style perfected here by...
) - Rivers and Putti for the Parterre d'Eau,