Louis-Pierre Deseine
Encyclopedia
Louis-Pierre Deseine was a French sculptor, who was born and died in Paris
. He is known above all for his portrait busts and imaginary portraits. At the Salon of 1789
, he showed a portrait head of Belisarius
.
Deseine trained in several ateliers, notably with Augustin Pajou
, whose portrait bust he exhibited at the Salon of 1785
. He won a first prize from the Académie, which sent him to study further in Rome (1781–84)
In 1814 he published a history of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, of which he had been a member. He described himself in 1814 as a member of the academies of Copenhagen and of Bordeaux, and as holding the post of first sculptor to the prince de Condé, for whom he had executed statues in the 1780s for the dining room at Chantilly
, where some drawings and maquettes are preserved..
His elder brother, the little-known sculptor Claude-André Deseine (1740–1823) was a deaf-mute, whose Republican sensibilities and the exaggerated character of his portrait studies has encouraged Michael Levey see him as a contrast to his brother.
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He is known above all for his portrait busts and imaginary portraits. At the Salon of 1789
Paris Salon
The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...
, he showed a portrait head of Belisarius
Belisarius
Flavius Belisarius was a general of the Byzantine Empire. He was instrumental to Emperor Justinian's ambitious project of reconquering much of the Mediterranean territory of the former Western Roman Empire, which had been lost less than a century previously....
.
Deseine trained in several ateliers, notably with Augustin Pajou
Augustin Pajou
Augustin Pajou was a French sculptor, born in Paris. At eighteen he won the Prix de Rome, and at thirty exhibited his Pluton tenant Cerbère enchaîné .-Selected works:...
, whose portrait bust he exhibited at the Salon of 1785
Paris Salon
The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...
. He won a first prize from the Académie, which sent him to study further in Rome (1781–84)
In 1814 he published a history of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, of which he had been a member. He described himself in 1814 as a member of the academies of Copenhagen and of Bordeaux, and as holding the post of first sculptor to the prince de Condé, for whom he had executed statues in the 1780s for the dining room at Chantilly
Château de Chantilly
The Château de Chantilly is a historic château located in the town of Chantilly, France. It comprises two attached buildings; the Grand Château, destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in the 1870s, and the Petit Château which was built around 1560 for Anne de Montmorency...
, where some drawings and maquettes are preserved..
His elder brother, the little-known sculptor Claude-André Deseine (1740–1823) was a deaf-mute, whose Republican sensibilities and the exaggerated character of his portrait studies has encouraged Michael Levey see him as a contrast to his brother.
Works
- Portrait bust of Augustin PajouAugustin PajouAugustin Pajou was a French sculptor, born in Paris. At eighteen he won the Prix de Rome, and at thirty exhibited his Pluton tenant Cerbère enchaîné .-Selected works:...
(1785), terracotta, Paris, musée du Louvre - Portrait bust of Claude-Pierre-Louis Durand at the age of four (1788),plaster, Paris, musée du Louvre
- Portrait bust of Louis XVI (1790), marble, Versailles
- Portrait bust of Louis XVII (1790), marble, Versailles
- Mucius Scaevola (1791), marble, Paris, musée du Louvre. This was his morceau de reception when he became an Academician
- Portrait bust of Robespierre, (1792) terracotta, Musée de la Révolution française, Château de Vizille.
- Portrait bust of Charles VIII (1799), terracotta, Paris, école nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
- Portrait d'Abélard (1801), plaster bust in a stone medallion, Paris, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts
- Portrait bust of Pope Pius VII (1805, shown at the Salon of 1806), plaster, tinted to resemble terracotta, Rueil-Malmaison, château de Malmaison
- Portrait bust of Pierre-Nicolas de Fontenay, sénateur (1743–1806) (1807), marble, Versailles
- Portrait bust of the duc de Luynes, pair de France, plaster, (1808, signed) sold, Château de Belle Eglise, 5 June 2006, lot 306
- Portrait bust of Jean-Baptiste Bessières, duc d'Istrie, maréchal de France (1813), plaster patinated bronze, île d'Aix, musées de l'île d'Aix
- Portrait bust of Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon, duc d'Enghien (1817), plaster, Chantilly, musée Condé. The monument was finished after his death by his nephew.
- Portrait bust of Louis XVIII, (1817), Chantilly, musée Condé
- Maquette for the monument of the duc d'Enghien at Vincennes (1817), plaster over wood, Chantilly, musée Condé
- Maquette for the monument of the Cardinal de BelloyJean-Baptiste de BelloyJean-Baptiste de Belloy was a French Archbishop of Paris and Cardinal.-Biography:...
, plaster, (c 1819) musée du Louvre. The monument to Cardinal de Belloy was erected in Notre-Dame de Paris, 1819
Not dated
- Two Nymphs supporting a putto, terracotta, inscribed, sold Sotheby's Arcade, 22 July 1993, lot 292
- Terracotta maquette, Virgin and Child (sold Bonham's London, 9 May 1996, lot 7
- The Entry at Vienna, bas-relief on the Arc de Triomphe du CarrouselArc de Triomphe du CarrouselThe Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is a triumphal arch in Paris, located in the Place du Carrousel on the site of the former Tuileries Palace. It was built between 1806 and 1808 to commemorate Napoleon's military victories of the previous year...
, Paris - Portrait bust of Jean-Joachim Winckelmann, tinted plaster, musée de Versailles,
- Comte Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis, over lifesize statue, marble, Versailles
Drawings
Drawings by Deseine are at the musée du Louvre ("Étude d'un homme debout avec une draperie sur l'épaule") and the musée Condé, Chantilly ("Le Déluge", "Deux Romains saluant un empereur assis" and "Lars Porsenna"); the musée Condé also conserves two projects for the monument to the duc d'Enghien.Sources
- Emmanuel Schwartz, Les Sculptures de l'École des Beaux-Arts de Paris. Histoire, doctrines, catalogue, (École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris) 2003.