Bust of Anne-Marie-Louise Thomas de Domangeville de Sérilly, Comtesse de Pange

Jean-Antoine Houdon was one of the greatest sculptors of the 18th century, and he had a particular talent for portrait busts. Commissioned in 1780, one year after her first marriage, this bust of Louise de Domangeville presents the sitter as somewhat older than her 18 years. Houdon’s handling of the sculpture strikes a balance between the conversational intimacy of Rococo portraiture and the simplified dignity of Neoclassicism. The turn of the sitter’s head and the precisely cut pupils of her eyes focus her gaze, and Houdon conveyed skin, hair, and fabric through nuances of texture and polish. Her drapery frames the bust and imparts the illusion of Classical repose.