Bust of Mlle. Victoire Martin
Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne
(French, 1704–1778)
1750
Object PlaceFrance
Medium/TechniqueTerra-cotta
Dimensions57 x 23 cm (22 7/16 x 9 1/16 in.)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. Pflueger
Accession number1986.988
On View
Not on viewClassificationsSculpture
Collections
Official portraitist to King Louis XV, Lemoyne worked in a style that focused on the character and mood of the sitter, often capturing a momentary expression. Here, Lemoyne portrays eighteen-year-old Victoire Martin informally, her hair pulled back with a crown of curls and a wistful expression on her face. Victoire was the daughter of Robert Martin (1706-1765), who with his three brothers, successfully developed an imitation of Asian lacquer known as vernis Martin. This type of lacquer was in great demand among royal and aristocratic patrons in France as a handsome and less expensive alternative to true lacquer imported from China and Japan.
ProvenanceBy 1889, Rodolphe Kann (b. 1845 - d. 1905), Paris [see note 1]; 1907, sold by the heirs of Rodolphe Kann to Duveen Brothers, Paris. June 3-4, 1958, anonymous sale, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, lot 204. By 1982, consigned by the Établissement Rustique, Vaduz, Liechtenstein, to Heim Gallery, London [see note 2]; January 1983, sold by Heim to Edward M. Pflueger (b. 1905 - d. 1997) and Kiyi Powers Pflueger (b. 1915 - d. 2008), New York; 1986, year-end gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. Pflueger to the MFA. (Accession Date: Janurary 21, 1987)NOTES:
[1] Lent to the "Exposition retrospective de l'art francais au Trocadero" (Lille, 1889), p. 236, cat. no. 1638. [2] Included in the exhibition "Seven Centuries of European Sculpture" (Heim Gallery, London, 1982).
Jean-Louis Lemoyne
second half of 18th century
A.D. 50–60