Henry de TRIQUETI (1803-1874) Blanche de Triqueti (1837-1886), Ca 1852 White marble medallion bust Titled to the left of the face "BLANCHE / DE T. /AE.T.X.V.". Signed below the right shoulder "H.DE/TRIQUETI". 58 x 50 cm on a sea-green marble base H.: 13 cm (total H.: 71.5 cm) Related works: - Henry de Triqueti, Buste médaillon de Blanche de Triqueti, circa 1852, preparatory work in plaster, iron and wood, H. 59.1cm, Montargis, Musée Girodet, n°inv. 989.139; - Henry de Triqueti, Projet pour les Bustes de Florence et Alice Campbell, preparatory work in plaster, 1855, Montargis, Musée Girodet; - Henry de Triqueti, Juliette Ferrus, patinated plaster, 1860, Montargis, Musée Girodet; - Henry de Triqueti, Portrait de femme, marble, 1850, 58.1x43.2x20.3cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, n°inv. 1994.42. Bibliography: Ss dir I. Leroy-Jay Lemaistre, Henry de Triqueti 1803-1874, Le Sculpteur des Princes, cat. exp, Orléans, musée des Beaux-Arts, Montargis, musée Girodet de Montargis, October 3, 2007-January 6, 2008, Paris, Hazan, p. 33, p. 35, p. 51, p. 67, this work reproduced under illustration 79, p. 68, p. 93, pp. 87-88. During the 1848 Revolution, Triqueti lost his main sponsors and supporters, as the d'Orléans family fled to England. The sculptor was seriously wounded in June of that year during his courageous enlistment in the National Guard. Convalescing in Béarn with his family and friends the Devéria family, he worked less, rejuvenated with his family and converted to Protestantism. It was against this backdrop that he carved the portrait of his beloved daughter Blanche, then aged 15, in marble. A great connoisseur of ancient art and the Italian Renaissance, Triqueti adapted the "bust-medallion" type for this intimate yet erudite portrait. Drawing inspiration from the "imago clipeata" (image-shield) of Greco-Roman antiquity and the "tondo" of the Florentine Renaissance, the sculptor set his daughter's portrait in high relief in a circular frame with a concave, deeply recessed base. He takes up a type of portrait reserved for the aristocracy in antiquity, which he also admired on Lorenzo Ghiberti's (1378-1455) Paradiso door in Florence, and turns it into a romantic, singular and modern work. The rim of this large white marble disk is decorated with ivy, a symbol of longevity and constant love. The Musée Girodet conserves a fine preparatory plaster on which the climbing plant is meticulously modeled. The plant decoration, the costume and the girl's hair, held in a loose, supple bun in a fishnet laced at the top of her forehead, are again reminiscent of Renaissance female portraits (circa 1852, preparatory work in plaster, iron and wood, H. 59.1cm, Montargis, Musée Girodet, n°inv. 989.139). These elements are also reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, which Triqueti could not have ignored, given his many English acquaintances and the major British projects that lay ahead. The imposing, costly marble block and the flattering references to antiquity and the great masters of the Renaissance suggest the high hopes and unconditional love of a father for his fifteen-year-old daughter. With the same talent that lends his portraits a nostalgic yet timeless distinction, Triqueti successfully employed this bust-medallion technique in the 1850s. Examples include the Campbell sisters, executed in 1856 (Projet pour les bustes de Florence et Alice Campbell, 1855, patinated plaster, Montargis, Musée Girodet, Portrait médaillon de Florence and Alice Campbell, 1857, signed "H. de TRIQUETI"; H. 72,5cm, marble on a rosewood and antique green marble base, H. 113cm, awaiting UK export license). Provenance: Château du Perthuis.