Sculptor. He was born in Paris into a family of master armourers. He is said to have studied with Giovanni da Bologna, but this has been questioned. He is equally likely to have learned his trade from French court sculptors such as Pietro Francavilla and Barthélemy Prieur. His first major commission was for a figure of the Constable de Montmorency for the château de Chantilly, of which only the head has survived. He was appointed sculptor in ordinary to Louis XIII in 1614, but most of his commissions from his first French period were for tomb sculptures. In 1625, the year of Charles I’s marriage to the French princess royal, Henrietta Maria, Le Sueur removed to London, under a royal command to enter the English king’s service. He was immediately commissioned by Inigo Jones to create commemorative statues of James 1. There followed two major commissions for tombs for Westminster Abbey: the tombs of Ludovic, Duke of Richmond and Lennox and his wife (1626–28) and of George, Duke of Buckingham and his wife (1628–34). Initially, Le Sueur, whose expertise in bronze casting was a novelty in this country, impressed the king, by whom he was sent to Italy to bring back copies of the famous works of Antiquity. He received numerous commissions, mostly for portrait statues and busts. Queen Henrietta Maria commissioned from him mythological fountain figures for her garden at Somerset House, one of which, the Arethusa Fountain, survives in Bushy Park, near Hampton Court Palace. The sculptor’s most celebrated work was the equestrian statue of Charles I (1629–33) commissioned by the treasurer, Sir Richard Weston, which now stands at Charing Cross. Le Sueur, who is thought to have outstayed his welcome in London, returned to France at the outbreak of the Civil War. He regained his position in the French royal service, but does not seem to have produced any significant work after his return.
Bibliography (updated 2024): C. Avery, ‘Hubert Le Sueur, the Unworthy Praxiteles of King Charles I’, Walpole Society, Vol. XLVIII, 1982; C. Avery, ‘Le Sueur, Hubert (c.1580–1658×68)’, ODNB (online edn), 2004; F. Lloyd et al, Public Sculpture of Outer South and West London, Liverpool, 2011, pp. 208, 233, 234, 241, 281–82, 360–61; G.T. Noszlopy and F. Waterhouse, Public Sculpture of Staffordshire and the Black Country, Liverpool, 2005, p. 164; J. Seddon et al, Public Sculpture of Sussex, Liverpool, 2014, pp. 118–19; P. Ward-Jackson, Public Sculpture of Historic Westminster. Volume 1, Liverpool, 2011, pp. xix, xx, xxx, 288–91, 334; M. Whinney (rev. J. Physick), Sculpture in Britain 1530–1830, London (1964), 1988, pp. 86–90; A White, ‘A Biographical Dictionary of London Tomb Sculptors c.1560–c.1660’, Walpole Society, Vol. LXI, 1999.
Philip Ward-Jackson, 2011