Sevres "Bust of Marie-Antoinette"

From: Denver Art Museum
Limited Edition: 21
Exhibition: Artisans & Kings: Selected Treasures from the Louvre
Material: Printed vinyl
Dimensions: 30" x 89" (76cm x 226cm)

Hanging Hardware Included

Summary

Beyond merely useful wares and traditional ceramic forms, the artisans of Sevres elevated their craft to an art form through delicately shaped and detailed sculptures. A porcelain bust of Marie-Antoinette, after an original by Louis-Simon Boizot (1743-1809), is one example of the level of mastery they achieved. The queen still reigns on 21 banners from the Denver Art Museum.

Description

The Louvre museum in Paris is one of the word’s most visited museums, attracting some 1.2 million American visitors alone each year – more than many American museums draw. So, the Louvre has now formed partnerships with several American museums to broaden exposure to its world-class collections on this side of the Atlantic. One of the museums to benefit from this is the Denver Art Museum which recently hosted its first such show, Artisans & Kings: Selected Treasures from the Louvre.

Banners from the exhibition feature a variety of show highlights, including a 1782 Sèvres porcelain bust of Marie-Antoinette after a work by French sculptor Louis-Simon Boizot. The queen was truly a fashion trend-setter in her day. While people often view the queen as "an empty-headed party girl, she used fashion in a radical and political way," according to Caroline Weber, author of "Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution”. Her style influenced what other women wanted to wear, and more than just frivolous, fashion was her way of expressing herself and her power over her own image. This bust is a gorgeous ode to the queen’s beauty, self-assuredness, and regal bearing.

On the banner, the bust sits on a pale, minty-green background that complements the queen’s serene gaze. Text in black above the image reads “Artisans & Kings/Selected Treasures from The Louvre”; the museum’s name and exhibition dates are printed below the image “Denver Art Museum/October 6 – January 6” Both sides of the banner are identical.

Provenance

These banners were displayed around Denver, Colorado from October 6, 2007 through January 6, 2008 to promote the exhibition Artisans & Kings: Selected Treasures from the Louvre at The Denver Museum of Art. The exhibition featured works from the collection of The Louvre museum in Paris that were also seen at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art.