The life and death of a royal monument: Bouchardon's 'Louis XV'

Larger than life and prominently sited, consummately crafted and enveloped in ritual, equestrian and royal monuments were arguably the most public and important works of art produced in early modern France. Focusing on Edme B ouchardon's Louis XV (1748-1763), this essay explores the power vested in t hese monuments owing to their dual role as portraits of a living but absent king and symbolic embodiments of the timeless qualities of monarchy. This double function of representation motivated their destruction during the Fr ench Revolution and their subsequent decline in critical fortunes.