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Bust of Fontenelle
(18th and 19th Centuries )
Lemoyne sculpted several busts of the celebrated French writer, Bernard Le Bouvier Fontenelle (1657-1757): the earliest, a terracotta, was shown at the Paris Salon of 1748; another was made for the Academy of Sciences in Paris; and a third was offered in 1759 to the town of Rouen, the writer's birthplace.
It has been suggested that even though this marble bears Lemoyne's signature, it was actually sculpted after one of Lemoyne's originals by Louis Simon Boizot (1743-1809).
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Dr. and Mrs. Henry Barton Jacobs, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Jacobs Sale, Baltimore, December 12, 1940, no. 1084; Walters Art Museum, 1940, by purchase.
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 3/30/1967 | Treatment | cleaned |
| 6/29/1971 | Treatment | cleaned |
Geographies
France, Paris (Place of Origin)
Measurements
26 1/2 in. (67.3 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, 1940
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
27.503