Bust of Alexandre Brongniart at The Kiev Museum of Western and Oriental Art, Ukraine

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For the bust of Louise Brongniart, visit Scan the World here. The duo of Louise and Alexandre were offspring of the renowned architect Alexandre Théodore Brongniart, famous for designing the Paris Bourse. Houdon skillfully captures the youthful essence without succumbing to sentimentality in these portraits. Louise still exudes a slight plumpness reminiscent of infancy, while her eyes convey a serious expression often seen in children. Young Alexandre grew up to be a mineralogist and director of the Sèvres porcelain factory. Louise and Alexandre were children of architect Alexandre Théodore Brongniart (1739-1813), celebrated for constructing the Paris Bourse and the Palais Brongniart. He was also friend to sculptor Clodion and designed the Capuchin monastery in Rue d'Antin, now Lycée Condorcet. His son Alexandre became distinguished mineralogist and expert in firing techniques, heading Sèvres porcelain factory from 1800 to 1847. Children's busts were rare in 17th and early 18th centuries but increased from 1750-60 onwards, reflecting a shift towards viewing childhood differently as seen in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile publication in 1762. Accessibility of sculpted portraits to wider society and development of "study heads," idealized to varying degrees, also contributed to this phenomenon. Houdon showed an interest in children's portraits early on during his Italian training period. He sent a child's head in marble to his first Salon in 1769. At this Salon, Jean-Baptiste II Lemoyne presented his Little Girl with a Scarf (Louvre). Houdon's busts of Brongniart children demonstrated his ability to capture innocence and freshness without sentimentality. The two busts contrast each other: Alexandre is dressed while Louise is nude. The boy's liveliness is evident in unkempt hair, open jacket, mischievous look, and more vigorous facial modeling. Louise appears more poised with round cheeks of a young child and carefully styled hair secured by a band with a bow. Houdon conveyed the color of eyes through differing treatments: Alexandre's irises give an impression of light-colored eyes while Louise's are deeply hollowed out imparting a darker, more serious look. A small element in relief at the edge of the pupil catches the light heightening the lifelike nature of their gazes. Houdon has not been surpassed in his portraits of children, including Sabine (Louvre), Anne-Ange (Louvre), and Claudine (Worcester Art Museum). These two terra-cotta portraits were presented at 1777 Salon and became very popular. Many marble and bronze versions were made, and they were reproduced in Sèvres biscuit porcelain and terra-cotta. The busts remained with the Brongniart family until the Louvre purchased them - Louise's portrait in 1898 and Alexandre's in 1900. This object is part of "Scan The World." Scan the World is a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures for public access. Scan the World is an open source community effort; if you have interesting items to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com. Scanned: Photogrammetry (Processed using Agisoft PhotoScan)