Jean-auguste Barre, Portrait Of Princess Marie d'Orléans, Daughter Of King Louis-philippe

Jean-Auguste BARRE (1811-1896)
Portrait of Princess Marie d'Orléans (1813-1839) holding a sculptor's chisel and a book.
Hard-paste porcelain biscuit.
Circa 1837-1839.
Without visible mark.
Good condition, one restoration at one hand.
H. 20.5 x L. 9.5 x D. 9 cm.

Exhibited
Louis-Philippe at Fontainebleau, the King and History, Château de Fontainebleau, November 3, 2018 - February 4, 2019, cat. 10, pp. 35-36 (illustrated).

History
Although unsigned, the posture, the treatment of the face and that of the dress leave little doubt as to the author of this model, representing the most artistic daughter of King Louis-Philippe. A pupil of Ary Scheffer, Princess Marie indeed established herself as the first French woman romantic sculptor, until her untimely death. Barre chose to represent her as a tribute, holding a stone chisel in his right hand and a book in his left hand. We know of a larger bisque version (H. 26.5 cm), still from an unknown manufacturer (SVV Collin du Bocage, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, June 8, 2016, n ° 68), as well as a rarer version. in bronze, of the same size (SVV Gros & Delettrez, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, June 20, 2018, n ° 269).

Barre was the main sculptor of the royal family and the aristocracy under the July Monarchy. In addition to having made the famous Wedgwood-style Sèvres biscuit medallions, depicting the profiles of each of the members of Louis-Philippe's family, he executed statuettes whose subjects are still poorly known, hence the rarity of our copy. A pair of cast iron models, attributed to Barre, representing Ferdinand-Philippe d'Orléans and his wife the Duchess of Orleans, whose posture is very similar, are known (SVV Coutau-Bégarie, Paris, hôtel Drouot, May 28, 2010 , n ° 157). The Girodet de Montargis museum keeps a model comparable to ours in bronze representing the Duchess of Fitz James (1839), as well as another version of Duke Ferdinand-Philippe d'Orléans (1842), also in bronze.