Explore: Hubert Le Sueur

(c.1580 - c.1668)

Hubert Le Sueur was born in Paris; the son of a master armourer. He may have studied under Giambologna in Florence. In 1614 he was appointed Sculptor in Ordinary to Louis XIII. Early in his career he concentrated on statuettes, including ‘Louis XIII on horseback’. By 1623 he had lost his wife, both his parents and a sister. Le Sueur accepted an invitation to travel with Louis XIII’s sister, Henrietta Maria, to England to work in the court of her new husband, Charles I. By 1626 Le Sueur was living near Drury Lane. Two years later he received the first of many commissions for tombs. Le Sueur returned to Paris at the outbreak of civil war in England. In France he worked as a foundryman, casting classical sculptures and a bust by Jean Warin.