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Object Record
Images
Additional Images [2]
Metadata
Object name |
Bust |
Title |
Marquis de Lafayette |
Artist or maker |
Jean-Antoine Houdon |
Date |
about 1967 |
Materials and techniques |
Plaster |
Physical description |
Plaster cast bust of Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. He is shown in the uniform of the Garde Nationale. This is a bust with the torso and upper arms rendered and changes in the dress: he is shown without medals; buttonholes are strongly accentuated in both outer and jacket. In this later version of the original 1785 life masque of Lafayette he wears a new wig, of a type that partially covers the long, slopping forehead so accurately recorded in the earlier busts. A marble at Versailles of this bewigged type is signed and dated: houdon an. 1790, crudely scratched over another signature: houdon fecit, with no attempt to conceal the earlier one. There remain unanswered questions about the particular marble at Versaille and its offshoots, like this plaster casting. The life model of Lafayette was created in 1785. There are several versions after the first. One from 1787 and 1790. This bust is a plaster type of the 1790 version. Underside of the pedestal is written "Sons of the Revolution / Fraunces Tavern / N.Y.C. / 1967" In the middle of the underside of the pedestal is a stamp that reads, "Musee / du Louvre / Reproduction Interdite / Ateliers de / Moulage" |
Past exhibit |
Lafayette |
Current exhibit |
Lafayette: A Hero's Return |
Catalogue number |
1967.04.001 |
Collection name |
Painting and Sculpture |
Credit line |
Gift of Mr. Gerald R.W. Watland |
People |
Marquis de Lafayette, Gilbert du Moitier |