Bust Of The Marquis De La Fayette By Jean-antoine Houdon

Bust of the Marquis de La Fayette in patinated bronze, resting on a white marble pedestal base (later).

Signed and dated under the right arm "Houdon an 1790".

Nineteenth-century work from the original 1790 marble in the Château de Versailles.

Total height: 72 cm
Bronze height: 56 cm
Width: 52 cm

La Fayette, who died aged 73 on May 20, 1834, was one of the last actors of 1789.Honored but controversial by his contemporaries, he was considered a hero of the Americanconsidered a hero of the American and French revolutions, and a defenderand a lifelong defender of liberty, equality and human rights.and human rights.La Fayette was enlisted as a member of George Washington's staff, and found in him a lifelong mentor and friend.
On December 17, 1781, in gratitude for his victory at Yorktown Yorktown, the Virginia legislature "unanimously resolved to make abust of the Marquis de La Fayette in Paris, of the finest marble used for the purpose, and to present it to the Marquis", andto the Marquis" and that an agent "employ a suitable person in ParisParis to execute the above bust".
Thomas Jefferson strongly influenced Houdon's choice for this prestigious commission.
On July 14, 1790, Houdon was commissioned by the Paris National Guardcommissioned a marble portrait of La Fayette in his National Guard uniformNational Guard uniform, cleverly half-opened over a knotted tieshirt collar, head turned slightly to the right, the model wearing a wig withmodel wearing a wig with rollers.