Vanitas of Sèbastien Le Prestre, marquis of Vauban

Anonymous of French or Piedmontese area
18th - 19th century, Scagliola plaster

The bust, made of scagliola plaster, finds a possible identification in the vanitas of Sébastien Le Prestre, marquis of Vauban (1633-1707), one of the most celebrated and influential figures in the reign of Louis XIV, military architect and engineer, Maréchal de France and distinguished honorary member of the Académie Royale des Sciences in Paris. The work is part of a production still to be studied, at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which, starting from generally known prototypes, returns the glorious image of the marquis of Vauban to which the skull is applied to indicate, as a memento mori, the inevitable fate of the illustrious effigy, reminding everyone of the transience and emptiness of earthly fame. Similar artworks, even with only half of the face transfigured, derive from the marble bust (1705-1706) by Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720), preserved in the Louvre Museum.The sculpture is signed on the back L. B., initials of an anonymous artist, perhaps from French or Piedmontese context.