1,500 pounds of Frenchie

Doggy John being installed. (Photo from The New York Palace Face­book page — Dorch­ester Collection)

Nor­mally, only dogs under 25 pounds are allowed to stay at The New York Palace, but they def­i­nitely made an except for this guy! Weigh­ing in at 1,500 pounds, Doggy John is guard­ing The New York Palace’s out­door din­ing venue, Palace Gate, from…super-sized dog treats? A Godzilla pigeon inva­sion? Naw, his true pur­pose is obvi­ously the same as his flesh-and-blood inspi­ra­tion, to enter­tain, amuse, and be adored.

The hefty, 8-foot tall, brass-and-lacquer French Bull­dog is the work of French artist Julien Marinetti and val­ued at $500,000. The buyer of this French Bull­dog will be one seri­ous Frenchie collector!

Get more pho­tos, along with pho­tos of sim­i­lar New York art install­ments, and an on-the-street com­men­tary from blog­ger, Joan Gage, at A Rolling Crone.

See the many vari­a­tions of Doggy John, and how the huge ver­sion came to life, at the web­site of Julien Marinetti.

Read more about the sculp­ture from The New York Palace press release here.

A view of Doggy John’s view. (Photo from The New York Palace Face­book page — Dorch­ester Collection)