DAVID D'ANGERS, Pierre-Jean

La Fayette (ou Lafayette) (Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, 1757-1834)

Lafayette (or La Fayette) (Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, 1757-1834)

c. 1832

marble

bust

Dimensions (HxWxD): H. 32 in.

on diagonal ribbon on chest: LAFAYETTE

Acc. No.: 821

Credit Line: Lafayette College, Easton, PA

Photo credit: 2007 Somma, page 61

© Artist : public domain

Easton, Pennsylvania, Lafayette College

www.lafayette.edu/

Provenance

• 1824-1825, In response to a growing demand for images of Lafayette in the wake of his Farewell Tour of America, David d'Angers produced two other full-scale marble copies, one is in the Capitol, the other was acquired by Stephen Van Rensselaer
• 1830s, Albany, New York, Acquired by Stephen Van Rensselaer (1764-1839)
• about 1932, Easton, Pennsylvania, the Van Rensselaer bust entered the collection of Lafayette College
• 1960s, was damaged in fire, survives in three pieces

Bibliography

• 2007 Somma
  Thomas P. Somma, " "The Son by the Side of the Father", David d'Angers's Busts of Washington and Lafayette in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol", in Paris on the Potomac, edited by Cynthia R. Field, Isabelle Gournay, Thomas P. Somma, Athens, Ohio, Ohio University Press, 2007, p. 60

Related works

• Plaster bust, "à l'antique", Angers, Galerie David d'Angers.
  Marble bust, 1828, given by David d'Angers to the American Congress, destroyed in 1851 fire.
  Marble copy given by David d'Angers to Lafayette.
  Two other full-scale marble copies by David d'Angers:
  - the marble bust (in antique drapery) currently in the Capitol, Washington, DC, dated 1830, commissioned by Charles Manigault,
  - the one acquired by Stephen Van Rensselaer in the 1830s, dated 1832, currently in Easton, Pennsylvania, Lafayette College Art Gallery (damaged by a fire) [this one].
  Bronze reductions, including one (naked) in Easton, Pennsylvania, Lafayette College Art Gallery, dated 1832.
• Reduced variant in uniform of the Garde Nationale, bronze, 1830, Winterthur, Delaware, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.