HD photographs of the RHS Caryatid sculpture on the south facade of Pavillon Colbert - Page 596
This time we were admiring the architecture on the Pavillon Colbert of the Musee du Louvre, which is the famous tourist attraction in Paris, and we took these high definition photos of a caryatid sculpted by Nicolas Victor Vilain.
Paris Statues
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Now a caryatid is an architectural support designed as an ornate female figure to replace a column or pillar, and unfortunately these do not normally have specific names, but as you can tell from this first HD photo, they are elegant and have different poses to support an entablature.
Also, as you can tell, this is located on the right hand side of a dormer window on the upper level of the Pavillon Colbert, and this facade of the former Palais du Louvre can be seen from the Cour Napoleon courtyard in the 1st Arrondissement of Paris.
Yet this next photograph shows a closer view of the caryatid, spelt cariatide in French, and the detailing that went into producing this, which was by Nicolas Victor Vilain who was born in Paris in 1818 and entered the Ecole des Beaux Arts to become a French sculptor.
In 1838 he won the Prix de Rome and upon his return from the Villa Medici in Italy, he presented several works at the Paris Salons, which led to numerous public commissions for different statues and embellishments around the city, when Paris was being transformed under Napoleon III.
And not only did he produce this particular caryatid, but Nicolas Victor Vilain also produced the one on the opposite side plus the pediment above, along with two statues for the series of famous men that are positioned on the facades of the Musee du Louvre.
But he also worked on many other tourist attractions in Paris, including several churches, the Tour Saint Jacques, the Pont des Invalides, etc having a successful career still sculpting until the late 1870s, also being awarded the Legion of Honour.
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