Offered by Antiquités Olivier Alberteau
General antiques dealer in Nantes
Bust of the Marquis de La Fayette in patinated bronze, resting on a white marble pedestal (later).
Signed and dated under the right arm “Houdon an 1790”.
From the original 1790 marble in the Château de Versailles.
Total height: 72 cm.
Bronze height: 56 cm.
Width: 52 cm.
La Fayette, who died aged 73 on May 20, 1834, was one of the last actors of 1789.
Honored but controversial by his contemporaries, he was considered a hero of the American and French revolutions, and a lifelong defender of freedom, equality and human rights.
La Fayette was enlisted as a member of George Washington's staff, and found in the latter a lifelong mentor and friend.
On December 17, 1781, in gratitude for his victory at Yorktown, the Virginia legislature “unanimously resolved to make a bust of the Marquis de La Fayette in Paris, of the best marble employed for the purpose, and to present it to the Marquis” and that an agent “employ a suitable person in Paris to execute the above bust”.
Thomas Jefferson had a strong influence on Houdon's choice for this prestigious commission.
On July 14, 1790, Houdon was commissioned by the Paris National Guard to create a marble portrait of La Fayette, dressed in his National Guard uniform, half-open over a knotted cravat with a shirt collar peeking out, his head turned slightly to the right, and wearing a scrolled wig.
