Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Louis XV on horseback, 1766

This sculpture, one of the most important in the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, shows King Louis XV (1710 - 1774) on horseback. The king is dressed in antique style and wears his hair in a natural knot at the nape of his neck. This representation is part of the long European tradition of equestrian statues, which goes back to Antiquity and of which the Marcus Aurelius of the Capitol is the unsurpassed model...