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Renaissance
Portrait Busts
Renaissance sculptors devoted
most of their efforts to mastering public figurative sculpture, in keeping
with the importance placed on humanism. Private or domestic busts were
less popular.
Portrait of Lorenzo Ghiberti (c.1450)
Gilt Bronze. Florence Baptistry.
Renaissance sculpture.
Piero de Cosimo de'Medici (c.1470)
Fired clay. Early Renaissance. Bargello Museum, Florence.
Terracotta sculpture.
The Young Saint John the Baptist (c.1470) by Antonio Rossellino.
Marble. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
Woman with Bunch of Flowers (c.1480) by Andrea del Verrocchio.
Marble. Bargello Museum, Florence.
Portrait of Isabella di Aragona, Princess of Naples (1488) by Laurana.
Coloured marble. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Early Renaissance art.
Bust of Beatrice d'Este (c.1490)
Marble. Louvre Museum, Paris.
Head of a Man (c.1520) by Conrad Meit.
Alabaster. J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
Late German Gothic sculpture.
Portrait Bust of Brutus (1538) by Michelangelo.
Marble. Bargello museum, Florence.
High Renaissance
sculpture.
Bust of Emperor Charles V (1553)
Bronze. Prado Museum, Madrid.
Baroque and Neoclassical Portrait Busts
Baroque sculptors received
frequent commissions to sculpt busts for popes, cardinals and secular
leaders. These were then often copied and circulated more widely.
Bust of Marie de Medici (1599) by Barthelemy Prieur.
Bronze. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
Portrait of Laudivio Zacchi (1627) by Alessandro Algardi.
Marble, Staatliche Museen, Berlin.
Francesco Bracciolini (1631)
Marble. Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Classical Baroque sculpture.
Bust of Muzio Frangipane (c.1638) by Alessandro Algardi.
Marble. San Marcello al Corso, Rome.
Laura Frangipane (1637) by Andrea Bolgi.
Marble. San Francesco a Ripa, Rome.
Baroque art.
Bust of Pope Innocent X (1650) by Alessandro Algardi.
Bronze and Porphyry. Galleria Doria-Pamphili, Rome.
Catholic Counter-Reformation
art.
Bust of a Young Man (1660) by Ercole Ferrata.
Marble. Staatliche Museen, Berlin.
Bust of Pope Alexander VII (1667) by Melchioree Caffa.
Terracotta. Palazzo Chigi, Ariccia.
Christian art, 17th century.
Jacob van Reygersberg (1671) by Rombout Verhulst.
Marble. J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
Bust of Charles Lebrun (1676) by Antoine Coysevox.
Terracotta. Wallace Collection, London.
Portrait of Marie-Therese, Queen of France (1680) by Francois Girardon.
Bronze. Walters Art Museum.
Bust of Cardinal Antonio Barberini (1682) by Lorenzo Ottoni.
Marble. Museo di Roma.
Bust of Marcus Aurelius (c.1680s) by Pierre Puget.
Marble. Museo di Sant'Agostino, Genoa.
Bust of Louis XIV (1686) by Antoine Coysevox.
Bronze. Wallace Collection, London.
Le Grand Conde - Louis II de Bourbon (1688) by Antoine Coysevox.
Bronze. Louvre Museum.
Neoclassical sculpture.
Marie Adelaide of Savoy (1710) by Antoine Coysevox.
Marble. Louvre Museum, Paris.
Prince Elector Augustus I of Saxony (1718) by Paul Heermann.
Marble. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.
Busts of the Seasons (Autumn, Winter) (c.1720) by Paul Heermann.
Marble. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.
Late Baroque art.
Bust of Tsar Peter the Great (1724) by Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli.
Bronze. Hermitage, St Petersburg.
Petrine Art.
Alexis-Jean-Eustache Taitbout (1762) by Jean-Jacques Caffieri.
Terracotta. J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
An Arch-Villain (1770-83) by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt.
Tin-lead alloy. Baroque. Osterreichische Galerie, Vienna.
One of a series of "Character Heads" (charakterkopfe)
The Hanged Man (1770-83) by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt.
Alabaster. Osterreichische Galerie, Vienna.
The Lecher (1775-83) by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt.
Marble. Osterreichische Galerie, Vienna.
The Beaked (1770-83) by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt.
Alabaster. Osterreichische Galerie, Vienna.
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, or Moliere (1781) by Jean-Antoine Houdon.
Terracotta. Musee des Beaux-Arts, Orleans.
Portrait of Voltaire in a Toga (1778) by Jean-Antoine Houdon.
Marble. Hermitage, St Petersburg.
Neoclassical art.
Portrait of Tsar Paul I (1797) by Fedot Shubin.
Marble. Russian Museum, St Petersburg.
19th Century Portrait Busts
The era of the industrial revolution saw the emergence of the first techniques
for the mass-production of artworks, like portrait busts. Heads of famous
figures, like Napoleon and Goethe (among many others) were copied and
sold around the world.
Bust of Napoleon I (1805) by Lorenzo Bartolini.
Bronze. Louvre Museum, Paris.
Head of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (c.1829) by David d'Angers.
Plaster. Musee d'Orsay, Paris.
Charles Philipon (1832) (Newspaper Director) by Honore Daumier.
Painted clay. Musee d'Orsay.
Caricature art.
Jean-Claude Fulchiron (1832) (Poet/Politician) by Honore Daumier.
Painted clay. Musee d'Orsay.
Dr Clement-Francois Prunelle (1832) (Politician) by Honore Daumier.
Painted clay. Musee d'Orsay.
Francois-Pierre Guizot (1832) (Prime Minister) by Honore Daumier.
Painted clay. Musee d'Orsay.
Mrs Morla Vicuna (1884) by Auguste Rodin.
Marble. Musee Rodin.
Expressionist movement.
Bust of Auguste Rodin (1888) by Camille Claudel.
Bronze. Private Collection.
George Frederick Watts (1889) by Alfred Gilbert.
Bronze. Royal Academy of Arts, London.
Bust of Sarah Bernhardt (1895) by Jean-Leon
Gerome.
Marble, dye, stone. Musee d'Orsay.
Sir John Everett Millais (1896) by Edward Onslow Ford.
Bronze. Royal Academy of Arts, London.
20th Century Portrait Busts
20th Century sculptors were
renowned for their use of unusual materials and 'found objects' (objets
trouve) in their sculpture. Also, new movements like Cubism and Constructivism
led to the proliferation of abstract and semi-abstract portrait busts
and other works.
Ophelia (1900) by Maurice Bouval.
Gilt bronze and marble. Victor and Gretha Arwas Collection.
Art Nouveau.
Bust of Beethoven (1901) by Antoine Bourdelle.
Bronze. Musee Bourdelle.
The Sphinx (1902) by Boleslas Biegas.
Plaster. Musee d'Orsay.
An example of Symbolism.
Head of a Woman (1909) by Pablo Picasso.
Bronze. Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Jeanette V (c.1911) by Henri Matisse.
Bronze. Toronto Art Gallery of Ontario.
Head Series (1911-12) by Modigliani.
Stone. Various musems: Tate Gallery; MOMA New York; Guggenheim, NY.
Based on forms from African
sculpture.
Sleeping Muse (1912) by Constantin Brancusi.
Marble. Musee National d'Art Moderne, Georges Pompidou Centre, Paris.
Supreme example of modern art.
Viky (Cubist Head) (c.1913) by Otto Gutfreund.
Bronze. Private Collection.
Example of Cubism.
Mlle Pogany, Version I (1913) by Constantin Brancusi.
Bronze with black patina. Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Head (1914) by Joseph Csaky.
Stone. Musee National d'Art Moderne, Georges Pompidou Centre, Paris. Cubist.
Constructed Head No. 2 (1916) by Naum Gabo.
Aluminium. Nasher Sculpture Centre, Dallas.
Example of Constructivism.
Mechanical Head (The Spirit of Our Times) (1919) by Raoul Hausmann.
Wood, leather, aluminium, brass. Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris.
Example of Dada art.
Head of a Woman (c.1920) by Naum Gabo.
Celluloid and metal. Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Example of Constructivist art.
Portrait of Marcel Duchamp (1926) by Antoine Pevsner.
Celluloid on copper. Cubist. Yale University Art Gallery.
Russian sculpture.
Head of a Woman (1929/30) by Pablo Picasso.
Iron, sheet metal, colander and springs. Picasso Museum, Paris.
Head of a Woman (1931) by Pablo Picasso.
Bronze. Picasso Museum, Paris.
Example of Biomorphic
abstraction.
Head known as "The Tunnel" (1932-33) by Julio Gonzalez.
Iron. Tate Collection, London.
Abstract sculpture.
Retrospective Bust of a Woman (1933) by Salvador Dali.
Painted porcelain, and objects. Surrealism. MOMA, New York.
Example of Surrealism.
Head of a Bull (1943) by Pablo Picasso.
Bicycle saddle and handlebars. Picasso Museum, Paris.
Wonderful example of junk art.
Portrait of Karl Hofer (1950) by Bernhard Heiliger.
Cement. Stadische Kunsthalle, Mannheim.
Head of Diego (1957) by Alberto Giacometti.
Bronze. Private Collection.
Bust of Pope John XXIII (1962) by Giacomo Manzu.
Bronze. Vatican Museums.
Divided Head (1963) by Cesar.
Bronze. Fiorini, London.
Beautiful example of bronze abstract sculpture.
Annette X (1965) by Alberto Giacometti.
Bronze. Musee National d'Art Moderne, Georges Pompidou Centre, Paris.
Portrait busts can be seen in some of the
best art museums and sculpture gardens
around the world.
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