Simply Fabulous! Canada's finest sculptor ever, Louis-Philippe Hébert, created, what remains Canada's largest bronze statue, in honour of Madeleine de Verchères.

Great Canadian Artist

Louis-Philippe Hébert, got this commission from the Government of Canada in 1911, through the auspices of Earl Grey, the Governor-General, without having to go through a competition.

There is no finer statue in Canada, certainly not in Italy.

In the hands of the master, Madeleine's dress just seems to blow gently in the breeze, as if it were thin silk, instead of hard metal.

More creatively presented than Firenze's awkwardly posed David, and more convincing than the Vatican's overly sentimental Pieta, Louis-Philippe Hébert's tour de force, Statue of Liberty (Madeleine de Verchères) proves, conclusively, that artistic progress had been made - and in Canada at that - since the medieval moldings of Michelangelo.

Her pose is uplifting, seemingly advancing, but not aggressively so; her weapon not threatening, just ready, should danger threaten; a fine face, a graceful figure, a symphony in motion, a stunning portrayal of a heroine for all time and all places.

Canada's own Joan of Arc, but where in France is there a statue that can match this glorious celebration of a life, born in the fire of a foundry of the union of man and material, and the imagination of a creative comet, motivated by an energizing idea from Canadian history...

Above, the statue stands on the location where the event took place, on the banks of the St. Lawrence River at Verchères near Montreal.

Above, Madeleine as perceived by another top Canadian artist, JD Kelly.

Great Canadian Heritage Treasure

Boer War Monument, 1908 by Philippe Hébert

Orig. bronze monument - Size - life size
Found - Calgary, AB

Simply Fabulous! - In 1908 Philippe Hébert was asked to design the Boer War Memorial in Calgary, Alberta.

For this commission he crafted the only equestrian statue he ever sculpted. It is as fine a creation as any horse statue to be found, anywhere in the world, and vastly superior to most.

The detail on the statue is exquisite, and superbly lifelike.

The equipment - holster, bandolier, the rifle boot, the saddle bags, perfectly rendered. And the whole, orchestrated as a symphony of a moment in time captured forever.

You can almost hear the leather creak, the horse nervously chomping on the bit, the reins jingling, as if both have stopped to check out some distant rifle fire they have heard...

Louis-Philippe Hébert 3 - 1850-1917