Bust of Paris

Lorenzo Bartolini (1777 - 1850)
1823, White marble

This image of the Trojan shepherd and prince who caused the Trojan War is an excellent example of Lorenzo Bartolini’s art and is signed and dated on the back. It was based on the model by the great neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova, who produced multiple likenesses of this Homeric hero between 1807 and 1812 (for Joséphine de Beauharnais, Ludwig of Bavaria, and Quatremère de Quincy). As in Canova’s model, the bust looks to the right and the features conform to neoclassical ideals: a long straight nose in the Greek style, for example, and a very small mouth. The great attention to detail is also undeniable, especially in Bartolini’s finishing of the work such as the curls of thick hair in the Phrygian cap, and the extraordinary smoothness of the marble, which allow us to clearly identify Bartolini’s work among other contemporary interpretations of Paris.