After Guillaume Coustou I (1677-1746) French, Paris, 18th century

Overall the condition of the bronze is very good. There is some minor wear and dirt to the surface consitent with age. The figure was cast in parts; some joints are slightly visible. The putto is slightly loose. The crown is missing from the proper right hand. There are a few minor nicks to the surface including along the edge of the shield.
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Few 18^th-century sculpted portraits of Marie Leczinska, or any French royal, are as honest and direct as the present model. Coustou presents Louis XV's queen in an individualised and youthful manner, bestowing his portrait with a charm other sculptors failed to attain. The life-size marble version was commissioned in 1725 and is now, after having adorned an array of royal residencies, kept in the Louvre (MR 1813). Period bronze reductions of Coustou's marble are exceedingly rare. Souchal (op. cit.) mentions the existence of terracotta and bronze examples in the art trade but does not produce any examples. A smaller gilt example was part of Knoedler's famous 1968 exhibition The French Bronze (no. 46).

The marble version of Marie Lezcinska as Juno was probably commissioned by the Directeur général des Bâtiments du Roi, the Duc d'Antin. Guillaume Coustou I was a logical choice as his elder brother Nicolas was already working on the pendant, Louis XV as Jupiter (Louvre, MR 1811). Upon completion in 1731 both marbles were delivered at the Duc d'Antin's Château de Petit Bourg, where they stayed until the duke's death in 1736.

During its few years at the Petit Bourg Marie Leczinska was on view with the marble that inspired Coustou, the Duchesse de Bourgogne as Diana (Louvre, MR 1817). Antoine Coysevox, Coustou's uncle, created this lively marble for D'Antin upon the duchess' death in 1710. Both deified portraits are characterised by the liveliness of the sitter and their animal attributes. They also clearly exhibit an interest in elaborate drapery and the representation of different textures; a preoccupation which is particularly well translated to the present bronze.

RELATED LITERATURE
J-R. Gaborit, ed., Sculpture Française II – Renaissance et temps modernes, 2 vols., cat. Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1998, vol. I, p. 162, no. MR 1813, p. 168, no. MR 1811 and p. 170, no. MR 1817; M. Levey, Painting and Sculpture in France 1700-1789, New Haven, 1993, pp. 69-72; F. Souchal, French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th centuries. The reign of Louis XIV, 4 vols., Oxford/ London, 1977-1993, Vol. I, p. 143; F. Souchal, Les Frères Coustou, Paris, 1980, p. 261, no. 55, pl. 28b; The French Bronze 1500 to 1800, exh. cat. M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1968, no. 46