JEAN-BAPTISTE II LEMOYNE (ATTRIBUÉ)(PARIS 1704-1778)

Lot 339
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Estimation :
20000 - 25000 EUR
JEAN-BAPTISTE II LEMOYNE (ATTRIBUÉ)(PARIS 1704-1778)
A terracotta bust representing a woman, her head slightly turned to the left, her hair tied back and raised, a slight smile lighting her face. Moulded pedestal in white Carrara marble. H. : 49,5 - L. : 27 cm. Study of the work by Albéric Froissart : "Coming from a dynasty of artists, Jean-Baptiste II Lemoyne learns in the workshop of his father, Jean-Louis Lemoyne, then in that of Robert Le Lorrain. First prize in sculpture in 1725, the artist gave up the traditional Roman trip to care for his father and stay in Paris. Nevertheless, he successfully climbed the ladder of a brilliant academic career, up to the direction of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1769, while marking out his work with numerous official commissions. Although nothing remains of his funerary sculptures, the importance of his monumental works and the abundance of his portraitist work - a genre in which he excelled - give an eloquent vision of the extent of his talent. Lemoyne participated in the decoration of the gardens of Versailles with the lead group representing the Ocean for the Bassin de Neptune, in 1740. Official portraitist of Louis XV and the royal family, Lemoyne put his talent at the service of the monarchy through the equestrian statue of the king for the royal square of Bordeaux (1744), as well as the monument commemorating the king's convalescence for the town hall of Rennes, inaugurated in 1754. Author of numerous official marble busts, the artist, marked by his ability to render the spirit of his models, also showed great skill in portraying the society of his time, through more intimate busts. Breaking with the pomp of his ceremonial portraits, which are often depicted halfway up the body in a tumult of draperies, Lemoyne adopts a simpler approach in the bust we propose - later successfully adopted by Houdon - the bust cut out by a rounded line at the birth of the chest and shoulders, showing just an indication of clothing, with no other details. For this more intimate portrait, of which there are a few examples, the artist, in full possession of his art and his talent as a portraitist, combines with ease an unvarnished realism that renders the personality of his model with great acuity. The nobility of her haughty bearing, the head slightly turned three-quarters, the eyes and the expressive gaze wide open, turned sideways, ignoring the viewer according to a procedure well known to the sculptor, let us imagine the high social position of this woman marked by a certain goodness of soul. We find his taste for working with clay, the artist's favourite means of expression, which he will try to communicate to his pupils Caffiéri and Pajou. By a skilful work of riffling, making the surface of the clay vibrate, the artist brilliantly prints the appearance of flesh and life, accentuating certain details such as the eyes with well-marked eyebrows, the finely retouched mouth, the line of the ears well marked, or the hairstyle of the time, identical to the one found on another masterpiece of the artist, the bust of Marie-Adélaide de France, whose hair falls carelessly along the neck, on her left shoulder.
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