Jean-Baptist Defernex () was a French sculptor, best known for his

portrait bust A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, and a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. The bust is generally a p ...

s, most often of women. Chateau de Versailles Petit appartement du roi Gabriel de Sartine

Career

Little is known of Defernex's early training, but he started as a modeler at the Sèvres factory. He was sculptor to the Duc d'Orléans and worked on gilded lead statue groups of children at the Palais-Royal. Defernex was not a member of the

Académie de peinture et de sculpture An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

, but did attend the

Académie de Saint-Luc The Académie de Saint-Luc was the guild of painters and sculptors set up in Paris in 1391, and dissolved in 1776.Alfred Fierro (1996). ''Histoire et Dictionnaire de Paris''. Paris: Robert Laffont. It was set up by the Provost of Paris in 1391, a ...

. He also established a school for sculpture and drawing, where the noted

Louis Jean-Jacques Durameau Louis-Jacques Durameau (Paris, 5 October 1733- Versailles, 3 September 1796) was a French painter. Life A son of Jacques Durameau (master printer in intaglio) and Marie Rocou (or Rocan), he was intended for an engraver by his father and trained ...

studied. Defernex did not receive any official commissions, and his style seems to have been regarded as unfashionable during his day. The expressions of his portrait busts have been compared to those of

Jean-Baptiste Greuze Jean-Baptiste Greuze (, 21 August 1725 – 4 March 1805) was a French painter of portraits, genre scenes, and history painting. Biography Early life Greuze was born at Tournus, a market town in Burgundy. He is generally said to have formed h ...

, and have been described as "...honest, unidealized, quite free from gallant flattery..." by the art historian Michael Levey.Michael Levey, ''Painting and Sculpture in France 1700–1789'' (Yale University Press, 1993), p. 15

/ref> Weeping genius Defernex Louvre RF4455

Works

* ''Bust of Jean-Baptiste Réveillon'' of 1752, terracotta ( Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) * ''Bust of Marie-Anne Botot d'Angeville'' of 1752, terracotta (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) * ''Boy Playing with a Dog'' of c. 1754, porcelain ( Cité de la Céramique) * ''Bust of Marie-Justine Duronceray'' of 1757, terracotta (

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

) * ''The Milkmaid'' of c. 1757, porcelain (Louvre) * ''The Butter Churner'' of c. 1760, porcelain (Cité de la Céramique) * ''The Little Rock Cutter'' of c. 1762, porcelain ( Palace of Versailles) * ''Bust of Antoine-René de Voyer de Paulmy d’Argenson'' of c. 1765 (

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

) * ''Bust of Anne-Marie Le Page'' of 1766, terracotta (

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

) * ''Bust of Gabriel de Sartine, Comte d'Alby'' of 1767, marble (Palace of Versailles) * ''Distressed Genius'' of 1768, marble (Louvre) * ''Bust of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon'' of 1772, marble (Musée Buffon) * ''Presumed Bust of Princesse de Béthune-Sully'' of 1773, marble (private collection) * ''Bust of a Man'' of 1774, terracotta (

Palais de l'Élysée Palais () may refer to: * Dance hall, popularly a ''palais de danse'', in the 1950s and 1960s in the UK * ''Palais'', French for palace ** Grand Palais, the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées **Petit Palais, an art museum in Paris * Palais River in ...

) * ''Bust of Prince Nicolas-Vassilievitch Repnin'' of 1764, marble (Musee Jacquemart-Andre)

References

External links

* 18th-century French sculptors French male sculptors 1729 births 1783 deaths 18th-century French male artists {{France-sculptor-stub