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Bronze statue

 

Bronze statue of a man crouching at the box hedge garden of the Castle of Versailles.

The bronze statue depicts a barely clad man who sharpens a small cutting tool on a stone. He is bare foot and 'wears' only a large piece of cloth over his left shoulder. His arms and legs are very toned. He is frozen in the moment, touching the object and looking up to another person.

The knife sharpener was designed by François Girardon and cast in bronze by Jean-Balthazar Keller in 1686 - 1688.

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