Attributed to Guillaume Berthelot, 17th century

Attributed to GUILLAUME BERTHELOT (Paris, 1580-1648).
"Boar".
Bronze.
Possesses report of Doña Rosario Coppel.
Provenance: Important Spanish private collection.
Measurements: 18 x 21 x 8 cm.
The wild boar has been conceived in full action, running towards its prey, with the front legs extended and the head raised with the open mouth showing the tusks. The hind legs rest on the rectangular base, also made of bronze, which acquires a figurative finish by simulating a landscape with leaves, flowers and small animals. Representations of wild boars became very popular during the Italian Renaissance thanks to the archaeological discovery of a Hellenistic sculpture representing this animal.
The aesthetic characteristics of this work are close to the art of Guillaume Berthelot, a French sculptor, active in Rome at the court of Paul V Borghese and in Paris in the service of Marie de Medici and Cardinal Richelieu. He went to Rome around the age of 25 (1610-17/18), where he received several commissions from Pope Paul V Borghese: A Madonna and Child on the colossal column erected in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, and Two angel bronzes for the Pauline Chapel inside the basilica, as well as a St. Paul for the loggia of Urban VIII in the Quirinal Palace (and an angel for the Scala Regia of the palace), and a large Crucifix for the high altar of Santa Maria in the church of Vallicella. He also participated in the restoration of the famous Borghese Gladiator. Back in France in 1618, he was appointed sculptor to Queen Mother Marie de Medici in 1620. He was engaged by the Queen Mother and Richelieu on the major decorative projects of the time, thanks to the support of the Queen Mother (like many artists, he lived in a courtyard of the Luxembourg Palace until 1642, before settling in the rue Férou) and thanks to the friendship of the architect Jacques Lemercier. In particular, he made about thirty sculptures for the Luxembourg Palace and its gardens: in 1622, Maria de Medici commissioned him to execute 8 sculptures for the dome of the entrance pavilion of the Palace. In 1626, he sculpted a first effigy of Louis XIII, commissioned by Richelieu for the castle of Limours, then a second in 1635, for the entrance to the castle of Richelieu, crowned by a bronze statue of La Renommée. In 1624, he was also responsible for making the bronze ornaments for the high altar of the Carmelites of the Annunciation, of Notre-Dame-des-Champs in Paris, under the direction of Jacques Lemercier. He is also credited with the marble bust of Gaston d'Orléans preserved in the Louvre.