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Collections

Augustin Pajou
Portrait of Sylvain Bailly1791

On view:
Geffen Galleries, floor 2
Gray-white marble or plaster portrait bust of an 18th-century man with swept-back hair and a queue, on a dark cylindrical pedestal with an inscribed square plinth
Marble bust of a man in strict left profile, mounted on a dark stone pedestal. Hair swept back with a queue braid, wearing an open collar and draped coat with finely carved fabric folds. Smooth surface with detailed sculptural treatment.
Marble bust of a man in three-quarter view, wearing 18th-century open-collared coat with draped fabric; powdered wig with tied queue, finely carved features; cursive inscription along the drapery edge; mounted on a dark stone socle and square base.
Marble bust photographed from the rear, showing elaborately carved period wig with rolled curls at the crown and loose locks at the neck, mounted on a dark stone pedestal.

Augustin Pajou, Portrait of Sylvain Bailly, 1791, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of The Ahmanson Foundation, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Artist or Maker
Augustin Pajou
France, Paris, 1730-1809
Title
Portrait of Sylvain Bailly
Place Made
France
Date Made
1791
Medium
Plaster on painted wood socle and plinth
Dimensions
Overall (with socle and plinth): 29 3/4 × 19 1/2 × 11 in. (75.57 × 49.53 × 27.94 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of The Ahmanson Foundation
Accession Number
M.75.101
Classification
Sculpture
Collecting Area
European Painting and Sculpture
Provenance

Monsieur Wolff. Pierre Decourcelle (1856–1926), before 1900, by inheritance to his wife; née Edmée About (1866–1960), by inheritance to their daughter; Mme Jacques Loste, née Claudine Decourcelle (1899–1992). [Galerie Black-Nadau, Monte Carlo, at least from 1972, sold 1975 to]; LACMA.

Selected Bibliography
  • Schaefer, Scott, and Peter Fusco. European Painting and Sculpture in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: an Illustrated Summary Catalogue. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987.

  • Conisbee, Philip et al. The Ahmanson Gifts: European Masterpieces in the Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991.


  • Lehmbeck, Leah, editor. Gifts of European Art from The Ahmanson Foundation. Vol. 2, French Painting and Sculpture. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019.