FRENCH, LATE 18TH OR EARLY 19TH CENTURY

This bronze figure, with his baton, armour and plumed helmet, is obviously intended to represent a high-ranking member of the military. It follows in the tradition of portraits from the French ancien régime such as the monuments to Louis XV at Rennes and Rouen (see Réau, op. cit., pls. XXIV and XXVII) which display the same haughty pose and dramatically swirling drapery. The subject here has thus far escaped a firm identification - not least because of the lack of any military orders or decorations - but almost certainly represents a maréchal de France. It can be compared directly in terms of costume and pose to Jean-Baptiste II Lemoyne's marble bust of the Maréchal de Lowendahl in the Louvre (see Réau, op. cit., pl. XXXVII), whose facial type is also very similar to the present figure, although of fuller proportions. It is also strikingly similar in pose and attributes to Louis-Philippe Mouchy's historicising model of the Maréchal de Luxembourg, executed as part of the series of 'Great Men of France' commissioned by M. D'Angeviller, director of the Bâtiments du Roi.