Augustin Pajou

Descendants of Florensac, acquired 1969; Heim Gallery, London

Heim Summer 1979, no. 27; Washington, New York, Cambridge 1979-1982, no. 80 (illus.); Chicago 1987-1988, no. 24; Draper and Scherf 1997, pp. 348-349, figs. 214 and 215 (illus.)

Surface abrasions and chips. Some restorations to breaks include: nose, lower back, proper left shoulder, neck, parts of the ruffle. Some losses around collar and ruffle. There is some in-painting to unify the surface. Beautifully modeled. Minor abrasions to marble socle.
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This unsigned bust with intense gaze and loose, open collar can be compared with several portrait busts by Pajou dating from the 1790s. His stylish coiffure with his catogan  partially held up by a comb demonstrating Pajou's "flair for hair" (New York 1981, op. cit. p. 348) can be compared with a signed and dated bust of Madame de Bonnard sold in these rooms, Paris March 17, 2002, lot 90.

Stylistically, Florensac's portrait compares closest with Pajou's bust of Jean-Baptiste Riban, a painter from Montpellier, showing a similar treatment of the curly hair framing his face with the open collar and shirt carefully modelled in the wet clay, as well as the fine portrait bust of 'le citoyen' Louis Deranc, signed and dated 1793.
Corbin de Cordet de Florensac was Deputy from the Herault and les Etats Generaux du Languedoc and was in Versailles in 1789. The present bust was made during Pajou's sojourn in Montpellier, where he lived from 1792 to 1794. Due to his strong relationships in this town, he had the opportunity to portray the haute Bourgeoisie of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, far from the terror of the French Revolution in Paris.