Bust Of Little Girl Saly

Hand-patinated reproduction on a resin base. Mold made from an imprint of the original work. We wanted to identify the model of this bust either with Alexandrine d'Etiolles, daughter of the Marquise de Pompadour, or with the daughter of the painter De Troy, or with the young Catherine Hallé, child of the painter of that name. None of these hypotheses seems admissible, but it is certain that the bust was famous from the 18th century: Boucher, among others, used it as a symbol of sculpture in several compositions; it was offered, in the form of an engraved plate, as a study to young artists and numerous versions or replicas attest to its success. It is possible that it was executed by Jacques-François Saly (1717-1776) during his brief stay in Paris, returning from the French Academy in Rome, and before his departure for Denmark (1753) where he spent most of his career. Relatively little known in France, this sculptor is in fact one of the key figures in the influence of French art abroad in the 18th century. This bust was reproduced at the Louvre museum where the real sculpture is exhibited there.