Bath, Art and Architecture: The 18th Century bust and Ladies Hairstyles.

Thursday, 5 December 2024

The 18th Century bust and Ladies Hairstyles.

Some Notes and Images.

Prompted by the online discovery of the fabulous terracotta bust below -

Found whilst researching ladies hairstyles on portrait busts in the late 18th Century.

Submerged in a Christie's Sale.

Christie's, 4 December 2018, Lot 56.

Anonymous Terracotta Bust of an Anonymous Lady.

with the Fashionable Chinon Double Hairstyle (see the 1780 German Almanac below)

Late 1770's - 1780's.

64.8 cm.

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6178329?ldp_breadcrumb=back

They say Italian or French late 18th Century.

Of note is the fringed shawl rather than any attempt at the neoclassical.

This bust to my mind would be much improved with a decent socle. I try and keep the superlatives to a minimum but in this case ............

This is one of the few bust from the period that have attempted to show the (sometimes faintly ridiculous or nightmarish ) hairstyles of the period - much lampooned by caricaturists at the time.

The Swiss artist Fuseli (1741 - 1825) who had something of a hair fetish would have liked this bust.

...............................

Portrait of Maria Hess.

Henri Fuseli.

c.1778 - 79.

104 x 79 cms.

Haus zum Rechberg, Zurich.

Here is not the place for me to go into the eccentric and prolific Mr Fuseli - perhaps in the future!

In the mean time -

https://soloarte.atelierdesarts.com/artisti/old/f/fussli.html

https://jeannedepompadour.blogspot.com/2013/03/henry-fuseli.html

...............................

The Marble Bust of Anne Marie Thomas de Domangeville,

Madame de Serilly, Comptesse de Pange. (1762- 1799).

Aged 19.

Jean Antoine Houdon (1741 - 1828).

Signed Houdon f. 1782.

Height 62 cms.

Wallace Collection, Manchester Square, London.

Provenance - Auction at Theil (Yonne), c. 1864. Duc de Morny; duc de Morny sale, May 1865, perhaps no. 445; Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford.

I have long admired this bust but certain aspects of it have bothered me, it is a very beautiful bust of a very attractive young woman, but a cynic might suggest that it is possibly a (workshop?) copy. It appears to have been fairly recently conserved and give a modern polished finish - micro crystalline wax?

But ....the marble is surprisingly flawed with various dark marks which detract from her appearance, the ones on the tip of her nose are very noticeable. The cleaning has probably enhanced these flaws.

It also is missing the bow on her breast seen on the Chicago bust (below).

It is possible that the original, which is of a much purer white marble is that in the Art Institute of Chicago (see below).

http://wallacelive.wallacecollection.org/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=64986&viewType=detailView

For a reasonable overview of the life of Madame de Serilly -

see - https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne-Louise_de_Domangeville

For an excellent monograph on Houdon see - Exhibition Catalogue - Jean Antoine Houdon - Sculptor of the Enlightenment - National Gallery of Art, Washington / University of Chicago Press.

All photographs above were taken by the author, on a visit to The Wallace Collection, Manchester Square, London in order to photograph the bust of Queen Caroline by Michael Rysbrack and King Charles I by Louis Francois Roubiliac.