Portrait of Antoine-René de Voyer de Paulmy d’Argenson
Jean-Baptiste Defernex
Details
Title
Portrait of Antoine-René de Voyer de Paulmy d’Argenson
Artist/Maker
Jean-Baptiste Defernex
Date
ca. 1765
Medium
Terracotta on wooden base decorated with gilded bronze
Dimensions
16 15/16 x 9 1/16 x 6 5/16 inches
Credit
Purchase with European Art Acquisition Fund, purchase with funds from Irene and Howard Stein, through prior acquisitions from the Friends of Art and Colonel Clifford C. Early, High Museum of Art Enhancement Fund, and funds from the Phoenix Society
Accession #
2007.126
The subject of this small sculpture is Marc Antoine-René de Voyer, the Marquis de Paulmy and third Marquis d’Argenson. A diplomat, statesman, and French Minister of War, De Voyer was also an art collector and bibliophile. His library included some 100,000 carefully selected volumes, largely by French writers, especially poets. The documents he wrote cataloguing his library reveal his expertise and taste. This small terra-cotta is attributed to Jean-Baptiste Defernex, who worked as a modeler for the Sèvres porcelain factory during this period.