Bust of Louis XIII in white marble sculpted in three-quarter - Lot 133

Bust of Louis XIII in white marble sculpted in three-quarter round. Face with open forehead, pupil-less eyes with hemmed eyelids, presence of lacrimal wattles, small mouth with half-open lips, full cheeks slightly sunken, dimpled chin; asymmetrical hair with toupee at the top of the forehead, numerous thick curls tightly arranged in several rows around the head, leaving a lock on the left side; laurel wreath attached at the back, the ends of which join to form a diadem; the young king wears a large tuyautée burr, a cuirass partly covered by a command sash with fringed ends, held in place by a conical fibula on the right shoulder. Lead sealing on the back. Molded pedestal. Paris, attributed to Guillaume Berthelot (Paris, circa 1576-80 - Paris, 1648), circa 1622/25 Total height 80 cm (minor erosion and some visible restoration) Provenance : - Château d'Echarbot, commune of Saint-Sylvain d'Anjou (Maine-et-Loire), until 2016. - Art market, BRAFA 2019, Galerie Berger, Beaune History: The bust stood on the south façade of Château d'Echarbot, on the left-hand pedestal, as shown on a postcard dated 1901 (fig.a), which explains its slight erosion. It was still there in 1979, according to the notice available on the Ministry of Culture's POP database. According to the current owner, the busts were no longer at the château when it was acquired in 2016, and had been sold shortly before. An old testimonial indicates that the Louis XIII bust stood next to a bust of Henri IV, while the other busts were from Roman Antiquity. Little is known about the present château, which was built in the early 17th century and subsequently remodeled. We do know, however, that in the Middle Ages, a feudal motte was called Château d'Iscarbot, and that in the 14th century, the Poyet family attached this fief to their estate under the name of Escharbot. This Angevin Poyet family included several illustrious members during the Renaissance, such as Pierre Poyet, mayor of Angers, and his brother Guillaume, chancellor of France. Through the interplay of alliances, it appears that in the early 17th century, Château d'Escharbot belonged to Nicolas Cornuau de la Grandière, a wealthy Angevin nobleman, through his marriage to a descendant of the Poyet family. An epitaph with his coat of arms, visible in the church of Saint-Sulpice in Monsoult (Val d'Oise), attests to his long life and provides information on the nature of his duties CY GYST MESSIRE NICOLAS DE LA GRANDIERE CORNUAU CONSEILLER DU ROY. ET AUDITEUR EN SA CHAMBRE DES COMPTES A PARIS. DECEASED SEPTEMBER 21, 1692 Requiescat in pace. However, we have no information on when these busts, including that of Louis XIII, were installed at Château d'Echarbot. In the 19th century, the property belonged to Ferdinand-Alphonse Hamelin (1796 -1864), French admiral and Minister of the Navy, who enlarged the buildings during the reign of Napoleon III. It's also quite possible that the busts that adorned several of the château's facades were installed at this time... Dating: Louis XIII is depicted here as a young man, before the sovereign wore moustaches and a goatee as seen in Philippe de Champaigne's 1628 portrait of the siege of La Rochelle. The king's image may be closer to that portrayed by Daniel Dusmontier in a drawing dating from 1622, or to Rubens' 1622-1625 depiction of him, with ruff, cuirass and wavy locks of hair resting on his left shoulder (fig. b and c). The most probable and significant hypothesis would be the representation of Louis XIII as a victorious warrior, his head girded with laurel, glorifying the sovereign after his 1622 campaign against the Protestants in Languedoc. The 21-year-old king made a triumphant return to the capital after signing the Treaty of Montpellier, which put an end to the Huguenot rebellions in the south of France. Works consulted : - A. Joubert, "Histoire du Ménil et de ses seigneurs" in Revue Historique et Archéologique du Maine, 1887, first semester, Tome XXI, p. 190-192. - F. Salet, "Œuvres nouvelles de Guillaume Berthelot" in Bulletin Monumental, Année 1959, 117-1, p. 69-70. - P. Béchu, "Un gentilhomme dévot au XVIIIe siècle : Henri-François de Recappé" in Annales de Bretagne et dans les Pays de l'Ouest, Year 1982, 89-1, pp. 39-59. - M.C. Canova-Green, "Révolte et imaginaire : le voyage de Louis XIII en Provence (1622)" in Dix-spetième siècle, 2001/3, n°212, pp. 429-439. - G. Bresc-Bautier and G. Scherf sous la dir.de, Bronzes français de la Renaissance au Siècle des lumières, Paris, 2008, cat.