Henri Brun, Portrait Of Joseph Bard (1849)

HENRI BRUN (Saint-Jean-le-Vieux [Ain] 1816 - Paris 1887)
Portrait of Joseph Bard at the age of 45
Inscribed: IOS BARD EQVES AETAT XLV LVGD 1849 (Joseph Bard at the age of 45 Lyon 1849)
Signed under neck: H BRUN
Plaster
Dia. 17 cm

Medallion made in Lyon by the sculptor born in the Ain, Henri Brun (1816-1887), of the archaeologist, art historian and writer, born in Beaune, Joseph Bard (1803-1861).

Rather than learning sculpture in Lyon, as one might have expected, Brun went directly to Paris and to the École des beaux-arts where he was a student of David d'Angers and François Rude. Nevertheless, after his training in Paris, in the 1840s, he exhibited regularly at the Salon of the Société des artistes Lyonnais, and not in Paris, and he lived at least part of the time, with a relative at 8, rue des Marronniers (today renowned for its restaurants), near Bellecour. It was only in the 1850s that Brun settled permanently in Paris, in rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs. Clearly, Brun made this medallion of Bard, which is located “LVDG” (Lugdunum) and dated 1849, when he lived at rue des Marronniers. His effigy of Bard is both modern and classicist, without the slightest trace of romanticism.

In 1831, Bard, aged only 31, was appointed inspector of historical monuments in Ain, Isère and Rhône, by Prosper Mérimée. A prolific and varied author, he devoted himself mainly to the study of religious archaeology. It is interesting to note that Bard, passionate and committed, quarrelled in 1846 with the architect Tony Desjardins over the renovations and enlargements of the primatial church of Saint-Jean in Lyon (Lyon Cathedral).
Engelmann's lithograph shows Bard ten years younger than Brun's medallion.