A FRENCH MARBLE BUST OF MARIE-THÉRÈSE-LOUISE DE SAVOIE-CARIGNAN, PRINCESS DE LAMBALLE, by F. Gherardi,her hair arranged in a loose coiffure with ringlets falling about her nape, drapery about her shoulders and revealing one breast, on waisted en suite socle, signed and inscribed on the reverse F. Gherardi, Me Lamballe, 19th Century

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

Details

A FRENCH MARBLE BUST OF MARIE-THÉRÈSE-LOUISE DE SAVOIE-CARIGNAN, PRINCESS DE LAMBALLE, by F. Gherardi,her hair arranged in a loose coiffure with ringlets falling about her nape, drapery about her shoulders and revealing one breast, on waisted en suite socle, signed and inscribed on the reverse F. Gherardi, Me Lamballe, 19th Century
26¾in. (68cm.) high

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
O. Brackett, Catalogue of the Jones Collection, Part I, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1922, p. 103, nos. 404-5

Lot Essay

Louise, daughter of the Prince de Carignan, was born in 1748, and married Louis-Alexandre-Joseph-Stanislas de Bourbon, son of the Duc de Penthièvre, in 1767. She was famed for her fair beauty and grace, but was widowed in 1768. She returned to prominence at Court with the arrival of Marie-Antoinette, and they became intimate friends. As the Revolution began, Louise moved into the Tuileries to be closer to Marie-Antoinette. In 1792 she was imprisoned, decapitated and torn to pieces by the mob.
During the 2nd Empire interest in Marie-Antoinette and her entourage was revived by Empress Eugenie and many portrait busts produced. A pair of marble busts of Marie-Antoinette and the Princesse de Lamballe are in the Jones Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and it is possible that the present bust was a pendant to a Marie-Antoinette.

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