Lot 9: FRENCH, LATE 19TH CENTURY, AFTER JEAN-BAPTISTE-JOSEPH DEBAY, CALLED DEBAY PÈRE (1779-1863)

FRENCH, LATE 19TH CENTURY, AFTER JEAN-BAPTISTE-JOSEPH DEBAY, CALLED DEBAY PÈRE (1779-1863) A FRENCH TERRACOTTA BUST OF BARON GROS bearing the signature and date: David d'Angers / .1821 terracotta 33cm., 13in.

A large marble bust of Baron Gros by Debay was exhibited at the Salon of 1827.

Replicas of it were subsequently commissioned by the state for the Louvre and for the Musée de Versailles. The present terracotta appears to be identical in almost every detail to Debay's version in the Louvre, signed and dated 1836. It lacks only the name of the subject, carved on the front of the plinth of the Louvre bust.

The sculptor of the present piece must have copied the Salon bust or subsequent versions but inscribed an erroneous date (1821) and signature of the then very popular sculptor David D'Angers.

RELATED LITERATURE
Sculpture Française, p.325