Reines de France et Femmes illustres

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.[1]

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
nothumb
nothumb
Name Image inscription Sculptor
Saint Balthild
(c.630-680)
Regent of France
Victor Thérasse
1848
Bertrada
(720-783)
queen of France
Eugène Oudiné
1848
Matilda
(c.1031-1083)
Duchess of Normandy
Jean-Jacques Elshoecht
1848
Saint Genevieve
(423-512)
Patron saint of Paris
Michel-Louis Victor Mercier
1845
Mary Stuart
(1542–1587)
queen of France
Jean-Jacques Feuchère
1846
Jeanne d'Albret
(1528–1572)
Queen of Navarre
Jean-Louis Brian
1848
Clémence Isaure Antoine-Augustin Préault
1848
Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans
(1627–1693)
Duchesse de Montpensier
Camille Demesmay
1848
Louise of Savoy
(1476–1531)
Regent of France
Auguste Clésinger
1851
Margaret of Anjou (1429–1482)
Queen of England
with her son Edward
Ferdinand Taluet
1877
Laure de Noves
(1307–1348)
Auguste Ottin
1848
Marie de Médicis
(1573–1642)
queen of France
Louis-Denis Caillouette
1847
Marguerite d'Angoulême
(1492–1549)
Queen of Navarre
Joseph-Stanislas Lescorné
1848
Valentina of Milan
(1370–1408)
Duchess of Orléans
Victor Huguenin
1846
Anne of France
(1460–1522)
Regent of France
Jacques-Édouard Gatteaux
1847
Blanche of Castile
(1188–1252)
queen of France
Auguste Dumont
1848[2]
Anne of Austria
(1601–1666)
queen of France
Joseph-Marius Ramus
1847
Anne of Brittany
(1477–1514)
queen of France
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Debay
1846
Margaret of Provence
(1219–1295)
queen of France
Honoré Husson
1847
Saint Clotilde
(465-545)
queen of France
Jean-Baptiste-Jules Klagmann
1847
  1. ^ Reines de France et Femmes illustres Archived 2015-03-15 at the Wayback Machine on the French Senate site.
  2. ^ Although dated 1850.