FRANÇOIS RUDE | STUDY FOR LA MARSEILLAISE

Private Collection, Paris

The Head of the Genius of Liberty is a detail from François Rude's celebrated relief of the Departure of the Volunteers on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. In the relief the winged figure of Liberty rallies the men who surround her with a battle cry. Rude's wife Sophie reportedly posed for the figure. When she tired the sculptor would shout "Cry louder!" in order to recover the enraged expression.

RELATED LITERATURE

P. Fusco and H.W. Janson (eds.), Romantics to Rodin: French Nineteenth Century Sculpture from North American Collections, Los Angeles, 1980, pp. 352-3, fig. 211