Hercules at Rest
by PUGET, Pierre, Marble, height 160 cm
In 1659 Puget was called to Paris on a commission. He was invited by Claude Girardin, one of Fouquet’s chief assistants, to make two statues for his chateau of Vaudreuil in Normandy. As a result of this he came to the notice of Fouquet himself, and received a commission to make for him a Hercules resting. Puget went himself to the Carrara mountains to choose marble for this statue, and settled in Genoa to execute it; but before it was finished he heard of the fall of Fouquet. Thus the sculpture, originally intended for the Chateau of Vaux, residence of the superintendant of Finance, Fouquet, went to Colbert, the great minister of Louis XIV.