40 PIERRE-JEAN DAVID
D'ANGERS
French (active in Angers
and Paris), 1788-1856
Bust of Mary Robinson, 1824
Marble
46.4 cm(18!/4in.)
Inscribed on the side of the base:
P.J. DAVID/1824
93.SA.56
David d'Angers was the most innovative and influential portrait sculptor of the
Romantic period. His early works, such as this bust of a young American woman, also
reflect the influence of then-current Neoclassical trends. Mary Robinson is depicted
with stark simplicity and an emphasis on geometric abstraction. Her features—judging
from the bump below the bridge of her nose and her bow-shaped lips—are accurately
rendered, but her nude chest terminates in an abstract, square herm. Her hair is swept
up into two large loops that end in a loose array of curls. This elaborate coiffure
plays upon the stylized, troubadour-like qualities of contemporary hair fashions and
punctuates the bust with deeply carved, almost architectonic volumes. The geometric
purity of the portrait is further emphasized by the complete lack of personal adornment
in the form of costume, jewelry, or hair accessories. This combination of realistic facial
features and abstract elements is characteristic of David d'Angers's female portraits
of the 1820s and 1830s. Like the paintings of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, the
Bust of Mary Robinson is an exquisite example of the stylized refinement common to
the work of many artists of the early nineteenth century.
Mary Robinson was the daughter of Captain Henry Robinson (1782-1866) of
Newburgh, New York. Captain Robinson was the sole or part owner of a number of
packet boats that sailed the New York-to-Le Havre route. Perhaps through his recurrent
travels to France, Robinson became a close friend of the marquis de Lafayette. It may
have been Lafayette who introduced Robinson to David d'Angers and facilitated the
commission for Mary's portrait. In 1831 David d'Angers also executed a portrait of
Henry Robinson's wife, Ann Buchan Robinson (1791-1853); that marble bust is now
in the Museum of the City of New York. PAF
EUROPEAN SCULPTURE 111
