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Marble bust of a young eighteenth century nobleman

A young man with a high forehead, aquiline nose and curling locks of hair that reach his shoulder, tilts his head toward his right shoulder, looking ahead with a confident expression. He wears a thin scarf tucked into a shirt with an embroidered collar, and a beaded, layered jacket. Over this he wears a satin cloak which bears an insignia on the left shoulder. The symbol is partially folded over, but still shows a descending dove inside a pointed cross decorated with fleur-de-lis.

Gallery Text

René-Michel Slodtz, the most famous member of a dynasty of Franco-Flemish sculptors, is best remembered today as an influential professor whose students included Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and Jean-Antoine Houdon. Slodtz spent almost a dozen years studying and working in Italy. The cascading curls and the animated drapery of this bust reveal his technical mastery and his admiration for the works of Italian predecessors such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

The identity of the man who sat for this impressive portrait remains elusive, but his appearance and costume provide some clues. Perhaps the most significant is the medal of the Order of the Holy Spirit, which appears on his cape. Entry into this chivalric order at an early age was limited to French royal princes, their extended male family members, and foreign aristocrats — a category that included current or deposed princes at the French court (many from domains that had become a part of France). Together, the sitter’s youth and his medal suggest that he is of the highest rank.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1962.10
People
René-Michel Slodtz, French (Paris 1705 - 1764 Paris)
Previously attributed to Guillaume Coustou the Elder, French (Lyon, France 1677 - 1746 Paris, France)
Title
Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit
Other Titles
Former Title: Portrait of a Man
Alternate Title: Portrait of the Duc d'Orleans / Portrait of Louis Armand II, Prince de Conti
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
bust, sculpture
Date
c. 1750
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/228106

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2220, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, Rococo and Neoclassicism in the Eighteenth Century
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Marble
Dimensions
89.4 x 67 x 37 cm (35 3/16 x 26 3/8 x 14 9/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Rouen Town Hall, Rouen, France. Baron Eugene de Rothschild, Purchased in Paris after the War, 1918. [Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, NY], sold; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1962.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Francis H. Burr Memorial Fund, Louise Haskell Daly Fund and William M. Prichard Memorial Fund
Accession Year
1962
Object Number
1962.10
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums April-June 1962", The Art Quarterly (Autumn 1962), vol. XXV, no. 3, pp. 262-272, p. 264 and repr. on the cover
  • John Coolidge, "A Marble Bust, Probably Representing the Prince de Conti, Attributed to Guillaume Coustou the elder", Fogg Art Museum Acquisitions, 1964 (1965), pp. 54-58, pp. 54-58, repr. fig. 1
  • John Coolidge, "Two Portrait Busts Attributed to Guillaume Coustou the Elder", Essays in Honor of Walter Friedlander, J. J. Augustin, Inc. (Locust Valley, NY, 1965), pp. 3-15
  • François Souchal, Les Slodtz, sculpteurs et decorateurs du Roi, 1685-1784, Editions E. de Boccard (Paris, France, 1967), cat. no. 197, pp. 702, 759, repr.
  • Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Francesco Buccella, Sonia Couturier, Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey, Melissa Hyde, Suzanne Folds McCullagh, Isabelle Mayer-Michalon, and Xavier Salmon, Tradition & Transitions: Eighteenth-Century French Art from The Horvitz Collection, exh. cat., ed. Alvin L. Clark, Jr., The Horvitz Collection (2017), pp. 152, 503-n.1

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2220 18th-19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu