A marble bust of Jérôme Bonaparte
after Baron François Joseph Bosio (1786 - 1845)
Life-sized Neoclassical bust in white Carrara marble. H 53.5, W 29, D 22.2 cm.
France, around 1810 - 13.
This bust depicts Jérôme Bonaparte (1784 - 1860), the youngest brother of Napoleon I, who became King of Westphalia in 1807 after his second marriage to Princess Catherine, daughter of the King of Württemberg.
The court sculptor François Joseph Bosio was commissioned in 1810 to create full-figure statues of the King and Queen of Westphalia. A "Buste en hermès de Jérôme Bonaparte" was also created in this context. 25 pieces were produced after the model in Carrara marble, of which, according to Goecke, eight were originally intended for the prefects of the departments in Westphalia and four for the mairies (mayors' offices) in Brunswick, Hanover, Kassel and Magdeburg. These twelve copies were presumably all marked "Jérôme" on the front. This is not known of the other copies.
The original bust, also with the king's name on the front, remained in the possession of the Bonaparte family until it was acquired by the city of Ajaccio with the help of the Fonds du Patrimoine. Today it is housed in the Palais Fesch musée des beaux arts (inv. no. MNA 2022.3.1).
Provenance
Dr. Kessemeier, Münster, aquired 1977 in Wiesbaden.
Private collection, Rhineland.
Literature
Cf. cat. König Lustik!? Jérôme Bonaparte und der Modellstaat Königreich Westphalen. Munich 2008, cat. no. 310 f.
See also Goecke, Das Königreich Westfalens, Düsseldorf 1888.
More of these busts in the collections of the following museums:
Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte der Philipps-Universität Marburg, Kunstmuseum Marburg, inv. no. 13505 (inscribed Jérôme).
Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Schloss Wilhelmsthal, inv. no. SM 3.2.149 (inscribed Jérôme).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, acc. no. 1971.113 (no inscription).
Royal Collection Trust London, RCIN 2026 (no inscription).