Bust of a man. Attributed to Claude-André DESEINE (1740-1823)

Terre crue ; Raised on a Bleu turquin marble pedestal.

Dimensions : H : 23,2 in ( including base 5 in) - W : 14 in -D : 10,2 inches

It is to Claude-André Deseine that we propose to attribute this beautiful bust, probably sculpted in the last years of the 18th century. Claude André Deseine was born in Paris on April 12, 1740 into a family of artists of which he was the eldest. His brother Louis-Pierre (1749-1822) was also a sculptor, and his other brother Louis-Etienne (1752-1783), was an architect. A pupil of Augustin PAJOU (1730-1809) in the academic school, Claude-André was enrolled in 1774 and in 1778 received the third prize in the January district. (1) He exhibited at the Salons of 1782, 1791 and 1793 with a pronounced taste for the execution of portraits (2).

Unlike his brother Louis-Pierre, who was rather erased during revolutionary events, Claude-André Deseine espoused their ideas and thus made himself useful as a sculptor of personalities. He notably executes the portrait of Maximilien Robespierre preserved today at the Museum of the French Revolution in Vizille (3) but also the portrait of Mirabeau (4) or the portrait of Lepeltier of Saint-Fargeau (5) ; even the face of Danton's wife who will have been exhumed a few days after her burial, by order of her husband, to make a cast.

(1) Anne-Marie de Lapparent, Louis-Pierre Deseine, Paris, CTHS, collection Archéologie et Histoire de l’Art, n°32, 2012, p.21. (2) Sanchez P., Dictionnaire des artistes exposant dans les Salons des XVII et XVIIIème siècles à Paris et en Province, vol. 1, 2004, pp. 510-511. (3) Maximilien Robespierre , terre cuite, Vizille, musée de la Révolution française, inv. 1986-243. (4) Mirabeau, plâtre, 1791, Rennes, musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. 877.32.1 (5) Lepeltier de Saint-Fargeau, plâtre, 1793, Bourges, Hôtel Lallemant, musée des arts décoratifs.

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