Charlemagne: equestrian statue, Paris
At the time of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 a rude, Germanic warlord was hardly the best figure for a French national icon. This equestrian bronze of Charlemagne, now standing near the West facade of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, tempers the Germanic warleader with the anachronistic but politically correct addition of two mustachioed Gallic footmen.