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Monkey Riding a Goat

Pierre Le Gros the Elder French
Benoît Massou French

1672–74

Not on view

The monkey riding a goat represents Aesop’s fable of "The War between the Birds and the Beasts." Some twenty sculptors worked on the thirty-nine fountains for the Labyrinth between 1672 and 1674. With more than three hundred lead figures, it stood as the largest ensemble of animal sculptures until the work of the nineteenth-century artist Antoine-Louis Barye.

Monkey Riding a Goat, Pierre Le Gros the Elder (French, 1629–1714), Painted lead, French — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Monkey Riding a Goat

Artist: Pierre Le Gros the Elder (French, 1629–1714)

Artist: Benoît Massou (French, Richelieu, Indre-et-Loire 1627–1684 Paris)

Date: 1672–74

Culture: French

Medium: Painted lead

Dimensions: 39 3/8 × 46 7/16 × 15 3/4 in., 2204.6 lb. (100 × 118 × 40 cm, 1000 kg)

Classification: Sculpture

Credit Line: Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon (MV 7926)

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European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at The Met

The Met's comprehensive collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century.