HD photographs of the Roman God of War statue at Les Invalides in Paris - Page 9
We were in the 7th Arrondissement of Paris at the Hotel des Invalides, when we took these high definition photos showing a statue called Mars, God of War, which was sculpted by Guillaume Coustou.
Paris Statues
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L'Hotel des Invalides, often referred to as Les Invalides was constructed by the architect Liberal Bruant during the reign of King Louis XIV, which was first founded back in 1675, yet it took many years to complete, and this first HD photo shows one of the two statues positioned by the entrance, which were commissioned to the French sculptor Guillaume Coustou.
So here you can see a close up showing the face of the statue, which was designed to depict Mars, the God of War in Roman mythology, who was perceived as representing military power as a way to secure peace, yet his counterpart in Greek mythology is called Ares and he was viewed as a rather destructive force as a God of War.
Now Guillaume Coustou, known as Guillaume Coustou the Elder, was born in 1677 and studying under his uncle Anotoine Coysevox, he became a renowned sculptor, working for many royal residences such as the Chateau de Versailles and the former Chateau de Marly, with no doubt his most famous works being the Horses of Marly that can be seen at the start of the Avenue des Champs Elysees.
You will find that this statue of Mars for the Hotel des Invalides was sculpted by Guillaume Coustou between 1732 and 1733 along with one on the opposite side called Minerva, however, what you can see today are actually replicas of the original statues, as they had degraded terribly over time and were replaced by copies in the early 1960s, and this is the same as many of his other works that are now copies, with the originals held in the famous Musee du Louvre.
But this photograph shows the central part of the northern facade of Les Invalides, which takes you through to the courtyard called the Cour d'Honneur, and as well as the statue of Mars located to the left of the entrance, you can see the Minerva statue along with the top pediment, that was also originally sculpted by Guillaume Coustou the Elder, before it was restored in 1815 by Pierre Cartellier.
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