19th century FRENCH school, entourage of Joseph Francisque Duret (Paris, 1804 - 1865) Portrait of François de Chateaubriand seated (1768-1848) Bronze with brown patina Bears an unidentified signature : " Dorimel ". H. 33.5 cm Comparative works: - Joseph Francisque Duret, Chateaubriand, stone, Paris, Palais de l'Institut, Exposition Universelle de 1855. - David d'Angers, Chateaubriand, marble bust, Combourg castle. - Aimé Millet, François de Chateaubriand, bronze statuette, H. 47,5 cm Reims, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Saint Denis, n° inv 910.4.63 . This representation of the author of the Genius of Christianity, seated on a rock bordered by vegetation, his right hand passing under his jacket and the pen in his hand in full search of inspiration, is to be compared with the stone effigy of the writer made by Francisque Duret to decorate the Palais de l'Institut in Paris. Surprisingly, few sculptors have tried to represent the brilliant author, except David d'Anger, to whom we owe a magnificent bust that served as a model for Aimé Millet's monument inaugurated in 1875 in Saint Malo. Here, the sculptor has imitated the conventional attitude of the series of Great Men of the 18th century preserved in the Louvre, while infusing a dynamic and interiority proper to the Romantic vein.