Bust of Minerva
Louis Léopold Boilly French
Not on view
Like the larger drawing of figures gathered around a table hanging nearby, this study of a bust of Minerva set into a niche is related to Boilly’s famous group portrait, A Gathering of Artists in the Studio of Isabey. The bust was part of a décor designed by Charles Percier and Pierre François Léonard Fontaine, the leading architects of the period. Indeed, Jean-Baptiste Isabey’s studio was featured in no fewer than five plates from their influential publication Recueil de décorations intérieures (1812) and embodied an up-to-the-moment style that was integral to the painting’s articulation of the artist’s place in society. In the finished work, Percier and Fontaine stand together, admiring a drawing just below the oversize statue.
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