The Sculpture of Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy Art and Patronage in the Early Reign of Louis XIV, With a Catalogue Raisonné

This is a comprehensive monograph on a workshop of sculptors during the early reign of Louis XIV. With the help of almost 100 unpublished documents, including the texts of two theoretical lectures by the older Marsy, Hedin investigates the partnership of the Marsy brothers and aims to explain the popularity of their dramatic style against the background of Versailles and the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. He examines the whole structure and distribution of royal patronage during the administration of Charles Le Brun.;Hedin also offers insights into the relationship of programme directors such as Le Brun who worked from their designs, aiming to illuminate the origins of the alliance of young sculptors, including the Marsys, Francois Girardon, Thomas Regnaudin and Jean-Baptiste Tuby, which superseded the older generation of masters when Le Brun took office as Premier Peintre.