After Gaspard Marsy (French, 1625-1681): A patinated bronze figural group of the Boreas abducting Orithyia together with a near companion patinated bronze figural group


the circular bases signed Gaspard Marsy and Gaspard Mairsy, 42cm and 46cm high overall (2)
|Gaspard (born 1624 or 1625, died 10 December 1681) and Balthazar Marsy (baptised 6 January 1628, died May 1674) were French sculptors. Originally from Cambrai, they moved to Paris and were employed by King Louis XIV, particularly for the decoration of the palace and gardens at Versailles.According to Greek mythology, Boreas was the North wind or the personification of Winter. In this large-scale bronze group, he is shown carrying off Orithyia, the daughter of the legendary king of Athens, against her will to be his bride, trampling on his rival Zephyr, the West wind in the process. The full-size marble group was originally made for the gardens at Versailles in 1684-7 and is now in the Louvre in Paris. Flamen, a pupil of Marsy, collaborated with him on a number of works at Versailles including this, which he completed after the death of Marsy in 1681.