Monday 19 February 2018

Bust of Madame de Serilly.


updated 4 September 2023


The Marble Bust of  Anne Marie Thomas de Domangeville,
Madame de Serilly, Comptesse de Pange. (1762- 1799).

Aged 19.

Jean Antoine Houdon (1741 - 1828).

Signed Houdon f. 1782.

Height 62 cms.

Wallace Collection, Manchester Square, London.



























Provenance - Auction at Theil (Yonne), c. 1864. Duc de Morny; duc de Morny sale, May 1865, perhaps no. 445; Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford.

I have long admired this bust but certain aspects of it have bothered me, it  is a very beautiful bust of a very attractive young woman, but a cynic might suggest that it is possibly a (workshop?) copy. It appears to have been fairly recently conserved and give a modern polished finish - micro crystalline wax?

The marble is surprisingly flawed with various dark marks which detract from her appearance, the ones on the tip of her nose are very noticeable. The cleaning has probably enhanced these flaws.

It also is missing the bow on her breast seen on the Chicago bust (below).

It is possible that the original which is of a much purer white marble is that in the Art Institute of Chicago (see below).




For a reasonable overview of the life of Madame de Serilly 


For Houdon see - Exhibition Catalogue - Jean Antoine Houdon - Sculptor of the Enlightenment - National Gallery of Art, Washington / University of Chicago Press.

All photographs above were taken by the author, on a visit to The Wallace Collection, Manchester Square, London in order to photograph the bust of Queen Caroline by Michael Rysbrack and King Charles I by Louis Francois Roubiliac.

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Marble bust of Madame de Serilly.

Houdon.

89.9 cms.

Art Institute of Chicago.



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Madame de Serilly.

Plaster Cast.

1925.









Madame de Serilly.

Houdon.

Plaster Cast of about 1925.

from the Wallace Collection version.

Note the missing bow on her breast.


Victoria and Albert Museum.

see - 


-------------------
Madame Serilly

Minneapolis Institute of Art.



Very poor photograph from the MIA.

why?



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