MARQUESTE
LAURENT HONORÉ
Toulouse, 1848 - Paris, 1920

LE CENTAURE NESSUS ENLEVANT DÉJANIRE
MARBRE, 1892

PLACÉ AU JARDIN DES TUILERIES EN 1894
FNAC

One of the statues in the Tuileries Gardens.
The marble statue made by Laurent Marqueste in 1892, was initially made in plaster of a smaller size (half of the current size), at the same time as the work on the statue. The plaster statue was destroyed in 1959. The current statue was placed in the Tuileries Gardens in 1894 and was initially placed around the Great Round Basin. In 1994 it was moved together with the base to the current location.
The statue is 3.05 meters tall

The sculpture depicts the abduction of Deianira, a mythological princess, the wife of Hercules. According to the legend, the centaur Nessus (beings whose upper half is a man, and whose lower half is a horse), kidnapped Deianira and took her across the river to have sex with her. Hercules who saw the act shot him with a poisoned arrow. The last words of the dying Nessus to Deianira, that his blood will preserve the love of Hercules. Deianira had Hercules wear a shirt soaked in the centaur’s blood, and since the blood was poisoned (from the arrow Hercules shot), Hercules died in agony.

The statue was photographed on the same day Click for a larger image Click for a larger image

Translation of the text on the sign:
MARQUEST
LAURENT HONORÉ
Toulouse, 1848 - Paris, 1920

THE CENTAUR NESSUS KIDNAPPING DEJANIRE
MARBLE, 1892

PLACED IN THE JARDIN DES TUILERIES IN 1894
FNAC