Equestrian statue of Christian V in Copenhagen Denmark

CountryDenmark
Town:Copenhagen
Year of creation:1687
Rider(s):Christian V

Christian V (1646 –1699) was king of Denmark and Norway was well regarded by the common people. He was the first king to be anointed as absolute monarch since the decree that institutionalized the supremacy of the Danish king. He fortified the absolutist system against the aristocracy and, dreaming of a Danish Versailles, wanted to show his power as absolute monarch through architecture.
Sculptor(s):Lamoureux, Abraham César

(1640–1692) was a French sculptor and stonemason who worked in Sweden and in Denmark. He is best known for creating the first equestrian statue in northern Europe. He started work on the equestrian statue of Christian V around 1682 and finalized it in 1687.

Description:

His equestrian statue by Abraham César Lamoureux (1688) on the square he laid out, Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen was clearly inspired by existing proven examples, like the ones of Marcus Aurelius and Louis XIII.

With direct inspiration from the equestrian statue of Louis XIII at the centre of Place des Vosges the statue of Christian V depicts the king dressed like a Roman emperor with a laurel wreathed helmet.

The plinth is surrounded by four allegorical statues: Minerva and Alexander the Great representing prudence and fortitude and Hercules and Artemisia as personifications of strength and honour.

The design caused severe problems due to the soft metal (gilded lead) used for the casting. The construction had, therefore, to be strengthened and Lamoureux introduced a figure of a naked man, personifying envy, crouched underneath the horse’s hoof, but in the same time supporting the weakest point of the statue, the horse’s barrel. However over the centuries the problems with the statue remained. The statue was recasted in bronze by Einar Utzon-Frank between 1939 and 1942. The new cast was inaugurated in 1946 and is popular with the youth as the picture above shows.