Lot 243: Jean-Auguste Barre

Jean-Auguste Barre
French, 1811-1896
a bust of princesse mathilde
signed and dated: A. BARRE Fit 1868
bronze, dark brown patina, on a red marble socle
35 cm., 13 3/4 in.
Literature: Regnoul-Barre, p.13
Princesse Mathilde Bonaparte (1820-1904) was the daughter of Jerome Bonaparte, king of Westphalia and youngest brother of Napoleon. She married Anatoli Demidof of the prominent Russian family and was a successful painter in her own right.
Nicknamed 'le plus beau decollete' she was an important and influential figure in the artistic and literary circles in Paris in the second half of the nineteenth century.