Tiber, Marble statue in Tuileries Garden, France
Tiber is a marble statue by Pierre Bourdict in the Tuileries Garden, showing a bearded middle-aged man holding a rudder and a cornucopia. It measures about 1.62 meters high and 3.17 meters wide. It is one of four water-deity statues in the garden representing European rivers.
Pierre Bourdict carved this marble Tiber between 1688 and 1690 for the Tuileries Garden, one of four river-god statues made for the same campaign. The figure holds a rudder and a cornucopia, attributes borrowed from Roman models of the river Tiber. The group was recorded by photographer Charles Nègre in the mid-1800s.
This statue represents the Tiber, the most important river of ancient Rome, connecting Parisian gardens to Roman legends. The depiction with a rudder and cornucopia shows how French artists interpreted and incorporated classical gods into their own artistic vision.
The Tiber statue stands in the Tuileries Garden, in the 1st arrondissement between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde. It is one of the four river-god figures placed along the garden's western terrace near the Jeu de Paume, so approach from the Concorde or Rivoli entrances. The garden paths are gravel and largely level, and the statue can be viewed at any hour the garden is open.
This work is part of a series of four water deity statues in the garden, all documented by photographer Charles Nègre in the mid-1800s. This early photographic record gives us rare insight into the historical arrangement and condition of this sculpture group.
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