Keywords

portrait busts, cultural change, pre-Revolutionary France

Abstract

“The term ‘portrait bust’ rarely awakens much enthusiasm among contemporary art connoisseurs, most of whom will likely circumvent major museum galleries devoted to this genre of sculpture” (p. 1). Having dispensed with this matter of business in her opening line, author Ronit Milano delves into the task of convincing her readers that such a response is unwarranted. In certain historical periods, the author argues, the art form was tremendously popular, had myriad uses in the public and private sectors, held widespread appeal for the middle and upper classes, and proved economically and critically profitable for sculptors. The last few decades leading up to the Revolution constituted one such era. Hence, the portrait bust performed important work in that it served as “an agent of cultural change” (p. 5), consolidating and promoting political and sociocultural ideas of consequence for the French privileged classes.

Original Publication Citation

Review of The Portrait Bust and French Cultural Politics in the Eighteenth Century by Ronit Milano (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2015). For H-France, online reviews for the Society of French Historical Studies 16:15 (January 2016).