Bust of a Gentleman (Paul François Galluccio de l'Hôpital)

Jean-Baptiste Boudard (1710 - 1768)
1743, Terracotta

This terracotta bust has been identified as the ambassador Paul François Galluccio de l'Hôpital. He is shown slightly turned to the right, with a proud gaze, his mouth slightly open and his hair, which falls in ringlets at the sides of his face, tied up with a fancy bow. He wears a shirt and a kerchief around his neck and a shawl draped around his shoulders. The technique demonstrates the artist's attempt at psychological introspection, as he carefully sculpts the facial features. Paul François Galluccio de l'Hôpital, Marquis of Chateauneuf, was the French ambassador to Naples from 1740 onwards; he was also known as a patron who supported Boudard. The French sculptor won the Prix de Rome for sculpture in 1732 and moved to Rome, where he studied at the Academy of Palazzo Mancini; his activity during the 1740s is not well documented, but it is known that in 1741 he was called to Naples by the Marquis de L'Hôpital. His talent was then recognised by the banker Claude Bonnet, advisor to Philip of Bourbon, who referred him to Guillaume du Tillot, General Intendant of the Royal House of Bourbon in Parma: in 1749, Boudard entered the service of the court and had a studio in the Rocchetta, a building on the western side of the Palazzo della Pilotta.