D'après LOUIS II LERAMBERT (Paris, 1620-1670) Lot n° 93

For the basin of the flowerbed of the gardens of Versailles FOUNTAIN WITH "LOVE SHOOTING WITH A BOW France, post 1667 probably executed in the 18th or 19th century Lead H. 126.5 cm, W. 123 cm, D. 107 cm Provenance: Mr. Paul Gouvert Collection Collection of Mr Thomas Jefferson Penn, Chinqua-Penn Plantation (North Carolina, USA) Sale Leland Little Auction & Estate, The Historic Chinqua Penn Auction, April 25, 2012 sold for $138 000 Paris Collection Bibliography: Alexandre Maral, "L'Amour tirant à l'arc de Lerambert," Versalia, Revue de la Société des Amis de Versailles, no. 15, 2012, pp. 163-172 Thomas Hedin, Les premiers jardins de Louis XIV à Versailles, Autour de l'Amour de Louis Lerambert, Versalia, Revue de la Société des Amis de Versailles, n°15, 2012, p. 173-195 This exceptional fountain, known as "L'Amour tirant à l'arc" (Love drawing a bow), was inspired by a work by the French painter and sculptor Louis Lerambert, intended to adorn the centre of the circular basin of the Parterre des Fleurs (and later the Parterre de l'Amour) in the gardens of the Château de Versailles (fig.1). An imposing shell serving as a base carries Cupid, the angel symbolizing Love, seated on a drapery and tilting backwards, brandishing his bow towards the sky, in the direction of the Sun. At his feet rests his quiver (suggesting the diversity of love) accompanied by a curious cylinder (containing messages to be wrapped around the arrows) and a torch, symbol of marriage. It is accompanied by a pair of doves beaking each other, another symbol of Love. The spout escapes from a wineskin held in Cupid's right hand, thus allowing the water jet to represent the arrow that usually strikes lovers. A student of Simon Vouet (1590 - 1649), Louis Lerambert met the sculptor Jacques Sarazin (1592 - 1660) and joined his workshop. He then became friends with the painter Charles le Brun (1619 - 1690) and the gardener André Le Nôtre (1613 - 1700). At the same time, in 1637, he inherited the position of keeper of the king's antiquities and marbles from his father, the engraver Simon Lerambert (1577 - 1637). This attribution allowed him to frequent the high spheres of the Court, with a certain free access to the person of Louis XIII which continued with the person of Louis the Great. Between 1664 and 1666, he sculpted four stone statues representing a faun, a satyr, a drummer and a dancing Hamadryad, now lost but known from engravings. The Dancer, in the form of a terracotta model, was chosen to appear in the posthumous portrait of the artist painted in 1704 by Alexis-Simon Belle (1674 - 1734) (fig.2). It was in 1666 that Lerambert was commissioned to paint a leaded Amur drawing the bow, as mentioned in the accounts of the Bâtiments du Roi. It was completed before he was paid 800 livres in July 1668. The work was then placed towards the end of 1667 in the middle of the central basin of the Parterre des Fleurs. The engraving by Jean Lepautre (1618 - 1682), shows the presence of this element in 1677 (fig.1). Following the work undertaken by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646 - 1708), for the development of the new Orangery of Versailles from November 1681, major earthworks signalled the disappearance of the basin of L'Amour tirant à l'arc. It was then likely that the lead work was stored and preserved at first. Seemingly destined to be cast, it does not appear in the "Inventory of works demolished in the buildings, which are kept for replacement" drawn up at Versailles in February 1699. The statue was only found and identified in 2007, without most of its attributes (doves, quiver and bow). It appears that after the disappearance of the basin of the flowerbed, the work was used as part of a fountain at the castle of Crespières, also called "Grand Hotel de Sautour". Our copy, probably made after the one in Versailles, comes from the collection of Mr. Paul Gouvert (1880 - 1959), collector, antique dealer and expert, who had informed Gaston Brière, curator at the Château de Versailles, of the existence of this sculpture, which he then declared himself to be the owner. The work was analysed by the founder Alexis Rudier and no further action was taken on what could be considered a proposal. Subsequently, and at a date that remains unknown, our sculpture was acquired in Paris by an American businessman, Mr Thomas Jefferson Penn, who had it placed in his residence at Chinqua-Penn Plantation (North Carolina, USA) (fig. 3), before it was acquired at auction in 2012 by an amateur.