2 - Louis-Simon Boizot (1743–1809)

Louis-Simon Boizot (1743–1809) Virgin and Child Model created in 1784 Bronze master model with a brown patina H. 48 cm on a molded and varnished wooden base, H. 9 cm Provenance: - Collection of Professor François Souchal; - by bequest. Related work: - Henri-Victor Roguier (1758–1841) under the direction of Louis-Simon Boizot, *The Virgin and Child*, 1784, terracotta, H. 42 x W. 24.5 x D. 22 cm, Sèvres, Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, inv. MNC 12972. Related literature: - Edited by the Musée Lambinet, Louis-Simon Boizot: 1743–1809: Sculptor to the King and Director of the Sculpture Workshop at the Sèvres Manufactory, catalog of the exhibition held at the Lambinet Museum in Versailles, Oct. 23, 2001–Feb. 24, 2002, Paris, Somogy Éditions d’Art, 2001, pp. 274–301; -Tamara Préaud, Guilhem Scherf, *The Manufactory of the Enlightenment: Sculpture at Sèvres from Louis XV to the Revolution*, Dijon, Éditions Faton, 2015, related work listed under no. 192, p. 222. This exquisite bronze of the Virgin and Child, designed by Louis-Simon Boizot and produced in bisque for the Sèvres Manufactory, appears to be the only known example to date in this material. While Boizot worked with Thomire and Gouthière to cast his compositions in bronze, it was with the foundryman François Rémond (1747–1812) that Boizot most frequently collaborated to translate the models created for the Manufacture into this material. Our cast features Page 1 of 2 keyways and visible, unrepaired seams. It can be assumed that, given the mixed success of the subject in its biscuit porcelain version, the plan to market it in bronze did not come to fruition, and the work remained in the status of a master model. Our statuette is, therefore, undoubtedly a unique piece in this material, a moving testament to this rare religious subject by Louis-Simon Boizot. Expert: Cabinet Lacroix Jeannest