Gaspard Marsy

Sculptor (1624–1681)

Born in Cambrai in 1624, Gaspard Marsy settled in Paris alongside his brother Balthazar, a fellow sculptor. Both admitted to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, the two brothers collaborated for nearly twenty years and were among the foremost creators of the sculptural decoration at Versailles. They are notably celebrated for the Latona Fountain, one of the gardens' most famous features, as well as the Horses of the Sun Watered by Tritons for the Grove of the Baths of Apollo. Their style, at once vigorous and elegant, epitomises the decorative classicism envisioned by Louis XIV and Charles Le Brun. As part of the "Grande Commande" of 1674, Gaspard Marsy was commissioned to create the group "Boreas Abducting Orithyia". He died in 1681 before completing it; the marble was finished by Anselme Flamen and is now preserved in the Musée du Louvre. This spectacular composition inspired numerous bronze reductions throughout the nineteenth century.