AFTER A MODEL BY LOUIS FRANCOIS ROUBILIAC (1702-62), BY PLOWDEN AND SMITH, LATE 20TH CENTURY

This model is after the celebrated primary marble portrait bust of the 9th Earl of Pembroke and 6th Earl of Montgomery by Louis Francois Roubiliac, dated circa 1750 and now regarded as ‘the greatest of the portrait busts’ in the Sculpture in Britain Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The bust of the Earl is regarded as one of Roubiliac’s most important essays in the classicising manner of portraiture. This replica bust was made by the firm of Plowden and Smith prior to the sale of the marble bust by the 17th Earl of Pembroke at Christie’s, London, 2 December 1997, lot 83 (£220,000).