A TERRACOTTA PORTRAIT BUST OF A GENTLEMAN

THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR

Details

A TERRACOTTA PORTRAIT BUST OF A GENTLEMAN
BY AUGUSTIN PAJOU, FRENCH, DATED 1775

Signed on reverse 'Pajou. Sculptor 1775', wearing contemporary dress shirt and vest opened at the neck and gazing to his left (old break in hair ribbon)-21½in. (54cm.) high, on a brown marble socle (cracks)-5½in. (14cm.) high

Provenance

With Daniel Katz, London

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
H. Stein, Augustin Pajou, Paris, 1912, p. 21, p. 65
S. Lami, Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs de L'École Française au Dix Huitiéme Siècle, Paris, 1970 reprint, Vol. II, p. 213

Lot Essay

This fine bust of an unknown gentleman can be compared to Pajou's portrait of Buffon which the artist sculpted in several forms from 1773-1776. The two are similar in position of head, casualness of dress, ribbon-tied hair and the vivaciousness and intimacy of the portrayal.

According to the records of the Salon of 1775, Pajou exhibited several busts without identifying them.