Details of Sculptor

Surname

Bouchardon

Alternative Surname

First Name

Edmé

Initial of Surname

B

Year of Birth/Baptism

1698

Flourished

Year of Death

1762

Biographical Details

A French sculptor, Bouchardon travelled to Rome in 1723 after winning the Prix de Rome with the subject Gideon choosing his soldiers by watching them drinking (untraced). He remained there for ten years and during that period executed a series of portrait busts, including several of British sitters. In 1727 he carved a severely classical bust of the German antiquary Baron Philipp von Stosch (Staatliche Museen, Skulpturensammlung, Berlin). This was followed by two portraits of English patrons, John Gordon of Invergordon and John, Lord Hervey (1, 2). Both men shared Stosch’s antiquarian interests and are depicted in the same distinctive classicizing manner, with short hair and bare torsos truncated low on the chest. Lady Lechmere must have sat for her bust, later used on her memorial, when she and her husband, Sir Thomas Robinson, visited Rome in the early months of 1730 (3). Since Robinson’s death in 1777 it has stood on his monument beside his bust, which was carved by Filippo della Valle, though Bouchardon may perhaps have provided the model (Baker, Harrison and Laing 2000, 755-6). Bouchardon also received a commission for a full-length statue of the Earl of Radnor but it is unclear whether it was ever executed.
Literary References: Grove 4, 1996, 508-11 (Harrison); Baker, Harrison and Laing 2000, 752-762