Louis-Pierre DESEINE (1749-1822), d’après. Bust... Lot 33

Louis-Pierre DESEINE (1749-1822), d’après. Bust of Louis-Charles de France, duke of Normandy then Dauphin of France, future Louis XVII (1785-1795) Hard porcelain cookie. 19th century, after a model made around 1790. H. 41 x W. 24,5 x D. 16 cm. History Initially a student of Edme Dumont, whose master was Edmé Bouchardon, Deseine then entered the workshops of Guillaume Coustou and Augustin Pajou, whose bust portrait he produced and exhibited at the 1785 salon, now in the Château de Versailles. He was awarded the Prix de Rome for sculpture in 1780, the approval of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1785 before becoming a member in 1791. A neo-classical sculptor in the service of the Prince de Condé, he remained loyal to the Bourbons during the Revolution and the Empire. The funerary monument of the Duke of Enghien in the Chapel of the Château de Vincennes was made according to his project, the model of which is now kept in Chantilly. This large bust was probably made during the Restoration, perhaps during Deseine's lifetime and executed under his direction. An original terracotta of our bust, dated around 1790 and now kept at the Château de Versailles (inv. MV 8523), was probably used as a model. The high quality of the work done on this cookie and the fineness of the execution of the features of the Dauphin, are manifest of the talent of the line of the great classical sculptors to which Deseine's career is linked.