BY GAETANO MERCHI (1747-1823), FRENCH, 18TH CENTURY

Details

A PLASTER BUST OF THE ACTOR PIERRE-LOUIS DUBUS, CALLED PREVILLE (1721-1799)
BY GAETANO MERCHI (1747-1823), FRENCH, 18TH CENTURY
On a circular socle inscribed 'PREVILLE'
30 ¼ in. (77 cm.) high, overall

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
S. Lami, Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'école française au dix-huitième siècle, Paris, 1910, vol. 2, pp. 130-1.

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Lot Essay

Gaetano Merchi was born in Brescia, but worked chiefly in Paris. He is known to have had close links with the theatre community there, and produced a number of busts of dancers, actors and actresses, including the portrait of Préville, an actor of the Comédie-Française. The original bust of Préville in the role of Figaro by Merchi is at the Musée Carnavalet, Paris (Inv. S544).

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