Circle of Germain Pilon (circa 1525-1590) France circa 1560

Private collection, Belgium.

RELATED LITERATURE:
E. Coyecque, « Au domicile mortuaire de Germain Pilon », in Humanisme et Renaissance, Paris, t. VII, 1904, pp. 45-101 ; J-R. Gaborit, La sculpture française. Renaissance et Temps Modernes, vol. II, Louvre museum, Paris, 1998, p. 683 ; G. Bresc Bautier (dir.), J. Thirion, « La représentation de l'enfance dans l'œuvre de Germain Pilon et dans la sculpture de son temps », in Germain Pilon et les sculpteurs français de la Renaissance, Louvre museum, Paris, 1990, pp. 113-129.

Good condition overall. There appear to be several fine restored breaks to the back of her hat which can be seen inside the terracotta. There is a restored fissure to the back of the neck, as well as a small restored chip to her proper left ear.There appear to be old repairs to both sides of her dress and apron and to her back at several places..A fine restored diagonal hairline fissure starts from her proper left foot across the apron to her proper right hand. Some repaints to her dress and blouse. A Thermolumniscence test executed by RE.S.Artes Bordeaux is deliverd with the terra cotta confirming a date between 1470 - 1550.
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Sculpted portrait busts in polychrome terracotta, widespread in Italy from the fifteenth century, developed in the rest of Europe from the mid-sixteenth century onwards, most notably in the Netherlands, England and France. The fragility of these works, the scarcity of available documentation, together with the fact that a large number of these terracotta have now disappeared, make the question of their origin a complex issue. In 1990, the Louvre organized a symposium on Germain Pilon and his contemporaries that resulted in a synthesis of the extensive research that had been carried out on the French sculpture of the second half of the sixteenth century, and more specifically, on the representation of children (G. Bresc-Bautier, op. cit). First depicted in the iconography of the Virgin with Child, funerary personifications, and allegorical and mythological subjects such as Charity, and Venus and Love, the figure of the child became a theme in its own right in France in the mid-sixteenth century.

A few rare examples of busts of children in polychrome terracotta are known. They are all characterized by a sharp sense of anatomical realism, as well as the sculptor’s skills in rendering the facial expressions typical of children. The representation of the youthful nature of these portraits is highlighted by the polychromy that renders–like a painted portrait in three dimensions–the pink hue of the cheeks and lips and the freshness of the flesh that is unique to children. A Buste de fillette (Portrait Bust of a Young Girl) in polychrome terracotta at the Louvre Museum, today considered to have originated in France, late sixteenth century, has been attributed to the Besançon sculptor Claude Arnoux, known as Lullier, and is similar to the work produced by Germain Pilon and his studio (Height: 23 cm/9.06 in., inv. no. R.F. 1646). The attribution to Lullier was based on similarities with two children’s busts he produced, now in the museum of Besançon (inv. no. D.863.3.22 and D.863.3.21). Compare also another Portrait Bust of a Young Girl with clothes and a hairstyle conforming to the customs of the time–even though the modelling is somewhat stiffer–conserved in the Pierpoint Morgan Library and Museum (as originating in Franche-Comté, France or the Netherlands, mid-sixteenth century, inv. no. AZ056). A last bust in polychrome terracotta, the Portrait d’Henri III enfant (Portrait of Henri III as a child), is today attributed to Germain Pilon and his studio (Bode Museum, Berlin). It should be noted that Raphaël Pilon, son and collaborator of the sculptor, continued the practice of children’s portraits in his own studio on Rue Saint Martin. A contract that Raphaël established in 1585 for the portrait busts of a master stonemason and a young girl requires the sculptor to “ensure that the figure is a good resemblance … right down to the belt, and to decorate said figures with paint and flesh in accordance with nature.” (J. Thirion, op. cit, p. 127).

What distinguishes our Fillette assise from the models mentioned above is that she is portrayed in full length, and not as a bust. Although no other comparable full length terracotta figures seem to have survived, the existence of such works is mentioned in contemporary documents. The posthumous inventory of Pilon’s studio drawn up in February 1590 with the help of the sculptor Martin Lefort, notes many polychrome portraits–including those of François I, Henri II, the Queen of Navarre and Constable of France Anne de Montmorency–and mentions several figures of children that are both “painted and clothed”. The term figure (figure), used as distinct from that of tête (head) indeed to designate representations of dressed children in full length, the flesh, eyes and hair painted quite naturally (au naturel). The precise descriptions in the inventory throw light on this little-known facet of the work of Pilon and his studio. Thus "Deux figures d’enfants au naturel, peints et étoffés, 4 écus" (Two figures of children painted and clothed, 4 ecus) are mentioned in the home of the sculptor (E. Coyecques, op. cit. p. 50). Further on, "Deux petits enfants assis sur un matelas et qui se mordent le doigt, 3 écus" (Two small children seated on a mattress, biting their fingers, 3 ecus) are mentioned, followed by "Cinq têtes d’enfants dont une étoffée, 30 s." (Five heads of children, including one that is clothed, 30 sols) (ibidem, p. 55).

The face of the young girl here epitomises the stylistic characteristics distinctive of this type of portrait. The almond-shaped eyes, their outer corners rising, the eyelids in relief, the wide forehead whose pronounced curve is typical of the anatomy of a child, the high hairline with the wavy hair brushed backwards on either side of a central parting, and lastly, the high, finely-drawn eyebrows are all noteworthy. A similar physiognomy is found in the marble Buste d’enfant (Portrait Bust of Child) at the Louvre. Although the attribution is unconfirmed by any documentation, the artist is universally agreed to be Pilon (in. no. N 15158).
 
A Thermoluminescence Analysis Report conducted by Re. S. Artes (report no. C 143013B) stated that the date of last firing from the samples taken from this terracotta was between the second half of the fifteenth century and the mid-sixteenth century. The Report is available upon request.