AN ITALIAN WHITE MARBLE BUST POSSIBLY OF EMPRESS MARIE-LOUISE, from the workshops of Lorenzo Bartolini, her hair elegantly dressed in ringlets and crowned by a tiara, a fringed shawl about her shoulders and an embroidered bodice beneath, signed L. BARTOLINI, on turned white marble socle, first half 19th Century

Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1850) achieved great fame for his mastery of the art of portraiture. His studio in Florence was widely frequented by the worthies of the time and by many Grand Tourists. His output was prolific in this field, and he was assisted in this task by studio workers. The present fine bust reputedly comes from the Bourbon-Parma family, and its physiognomy relates to that of Napoleon's second wife, Marie-Louise of Austria.