Gabrielle Foivard, Portrait Of Emile Littré (1882)

GABRIELLE FOIVARD
Portrait of Émile Littré
1882
Plaster
H. 44 cm
Signed and dated: G Foivard / 1882

Gabrielle Foivard, sometimes called Marie Gabrielle Foivard, was the most important pupil of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (for this see the two volumes of the book written by Carpeaux's daughter, Louise Clément-Carpeaux). She worked in Paris and received several state commissions. This bust is a portrait of the doctor, philosopher, lexicographer, and politician, Émile Littré. The great man has a very worn face full of character. The portrait is posthumous, Foivard's bust is dated 1882, and Littré died in 1881. This bust, or another example in plaster, was exhibited in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1883. It is a reduction of a marble commissioned for the Historical Gallery of Versailles.