Bust "the Head Of Wicar" Cast From The Louvre Workshops

Plaster sculpture after a wax bust of a young woman called "Wicar Head" or "Wax Head" preserved in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Lille. Stamp of the Louvre Museum's casting workshop. Late 19th, early 20th century. Height 46 cm, width 34 cm. Bust in very good condition, just a slight lack of plaster in a corner of the base. In September 1835, a collection of Renaissance drawings and sculptures arrived from Rome for Lille, bequeathed to the Society of Sciences of this city by Jean-Baptiste Wicar known as Le Chevalier Wicar, neoclassical painter and art collector, born in Lille on January 22, 1762 and died in Rome on February 7, 1834. In this treasure we discover a wax head of a woman, reputed to be "from the time of Raphael". From 1865 onwards, it became the major work of the Lille museum. She excites, seduces and intrigues with her smile as enigmatic as that of the Mona Lisa. This "Wax Head" was described as an "irresistible seduction" and a "unique jewel" by the art historian Louis Gonse.