The chubby cherubs are the models for the lantern-bearing bronze figures that still flank the stairs at the Royal Palace. They were made by Jacques-Philippe Bouchardon, who had been hired in 1741 as court sculptor for the palace works. The architect Carl Hårleman had been in Paris with his pupil Carl Johan Cronstedt in 1731-1732 to recruit skilled French craftsmen for the palace works in Stockholm.