A Rediscovered Masterpiece by Sculptor François Anguier

As expert Alexandre Lacroix tells us with alacrity: "I have never had my hands on a 17th-century terracotta model of this importance modeled by a French sculptor". He adds: "Until the 18th century, the French preferred wax or wood to present models to their patrons, and it wasn't until the 1730s that terracotta sculptures appeared at the Salon de l'Académie. When you also consider the extreme fragility of the material, it's easy to see why early French terracotta works are so rare. Though preserved at the time by sculptors or patrons, they have now almost all disappeared." His associate, Élodie Jeannest de Gyvès, emphasizes the "traceable history [of the model] right up to the present day, thanks to archival and iconographic support." Sold at an "anonymous" sale on March 21, 1763 (no. 150), and again during the Montesquiou-Fezensac sale, which was held from January 29 to 31, 1872 (no. 123), the terracotta has so far remained in the possession of the patron’s indirect heirs. Models of 17th-century funerary monuments were an essential stage in the creative process, giving substance to the commissioning contract and enabling the parties to agree on the details of the work in question. But very few have survived. Two terracotta models have come down to us so far: François Anguier 's unfinished monument to Maréchal Budes, Comte de Guébriant, still in the hands of his descendants, and Gilles Guérin's recumbent statue of Henri II de Bourbon-Condé (Musée du Louvre), a one-third scale model of the tomb of Saint Thomas…