The Queens of France and Famous Women (Reines de France et Femmes illustres) is a group of sculptures in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. It consists of 20 marble sculptures arranged around a large pond in front of the Palais du Luxembourg. Louis-Philippe I chose the women to be portrayed and most of the sculptures were commissioned around 1843, for around 12,000 francs each, and generally exhibited in the Paris Salons of 1847 or 1848.Reines de France et Femmes illustres on the French Senate site.
The series originally included an 1852 statue of Joan of Arc by François Rude, which was moved to the Louvre in 1872 because it was considered too fragile to remain outdoors. The French government commissioned a substitute of Margaret of Anjou for 7,000 francs from Taluet, who completed it in 1877. It was exhibited at the 1895 Salon.
Clockwise starting at the northeast, the figures are:
Disposition Name Image inscription Sculptor Saint Balthild(c.630-680)Regent of France Victor Thérasse1848Bertrada(720-783)queen of France Eugène Oudiné1848Matilda(c.1031-1083)Duchess of Normandy Jean-Jacques Elshoecht1848Saint Genevieve(423-512)Patron saint of Paris Michel-Louis Victor Mercier1845Mary Stuart(1542–1587)queen of France Jean-Jacques Feuchère1846Jeanne d'Albret(1528–1572)Queen of Navarre Jean-Louis Brian1848Clémence Isaure Antoine-Augustin Préault1848Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans(1627–1693)Duchesse de Montpensier Camille Demesmay 1848Louise of Savoy(1476–1531)Regent of France Auguste Clésinger1851Margaret of Anjou (1429–1482)Queen of Englandwith her son Edward Ferdinand Taluet1877Laure de Noves(1307–1348) Auguste Ottin1848Marie de Médicis(1573–1642)queen of France Louis-Denis Caillouette1847Marguerite d'Angoulême(1492–1549)Queen of Navarre Joseph-Stanislas Lescorné1848Valentina of Milan(1370–1408)Duchess of Orléans Victor Huguenin1846Anne of France(1460–1522)Regent of France Jacques-Édouard Gatteaux1847Blanche of Castile(1188–1252)queen of France Auguste Dumont1848Although dated 1850.Anne of Austria(1601–1666)queen of France Joseph-Marius Ramus1847Anne of Brittany(1477–1514)queen of France Jean-Baptiste Joseph Debay1846Margaret of Provence(1219–1295)queen of France Honoré Husson1847Saint Clotilde(465-545)queen of France Jean-Baptiste-Jules Klagmann1847
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