PAJOU, Augustin

In the opera house at Versailles Pajou was working primarily as a decorator of surfaces. Among the decorative reliefs it is the gilded bas-reliefs on the lowest tier of the boxes in the auditorium that best represent his art. There is in these elongated, reclining figures a hint already of the sculptor’s study of sixteenth-century models, notably the achievements of the Fontainebleau School.

In the opera house at Versailles Pajou was working primarily as a decorator of surfaces. Among the decorative reliefs it is the gilded bas-reliefs on the lowest tier of the boxes in the auditorium that best represent his art. There is in these elongated, reclining figures a hint already of the sculptor’s study of sixteenth-century models, notably the achievements of the Fontainebleau School.

Augustine Pajou was the sculptor of the most beautiful ladies of the day, beginning with Madame du Barry.

Pajou created several character studies of old men, unconnected with other projects and not portraits. The present study is a vivid description of a bearded older man who stares ahead with a fierce expression. The brows jut so far out that the sculptor must have intended them to cast the eyes in shadow, adding to the sense of menace.

Pajou created several character studies of old men, unconnected with other projects and not portraits. The present bust of a man in contemplation was probably made as an exercise in rendering human expressions. Such studies were modelled from life and depict a specific emotion, such as ‘despondency’ or ‘suffering’. They were seen as a test of skill and were a requirement for election to the Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris.

Like nearly all his fellow sculptors, Pajou was also employed as a portraitist; like them he showed his most sustained ability in this category of work. He was capable of being inspired to fine effect by the right sitter. It was probably through is master Lemoyne that Pajou received the commission for a bust of Louis XV. He was to carve likenesses of both Marie Leczinska and the dauphin (a posthumous portrait), but he remained most successful in portraying those people he really knew. The bust of Hubert Robert, the painter, is the result of friendship and knowledge, as well as talent. It was shown at the Salon of 1789.

The sitter of this bust was Adelaide-Flore Belleville (1765-1838) who in 1781 married Charles de Wailly. The pendant of the bust is the bust of her fifty-nine-year-old husband, which is known only in plaster versions,

Pajou had a profound ability to convey the essence of character and personality. Madame de Wailly is cool and detached. One senses the intelligence behind the stern image, and its severity is offset by the undraped breast and luxurious and unruly locks of hair. Rendering hair was one of the sculptors great talents.

French clock cases were often modelled by leading sculptors in the 18th century. Together, the three bronze figures - Eros, a cherub, and Father Time - represent the Triumph of Love over Time.

Pajou was in Rome from 1751 to 1756. The marble statue of Psyche signed and dated 1790, begun in 1783, was commissioned from the artist as a counterpart to a statue of Amor by Bouchardon. Inspired by a tale of Apuleius, it represents a nude Psyche, seated, at the moment when Eros has just left her. At her feet is the dagger; by her side the lamp with oil flowing out of it. The modelling is lively and the pose natural; the charm and sensitivity of Pajou’s art are accompanied by a return to classical antiquity which is characteristic of his time.

Pajou showed this marble relief at the Salon of 1761 with the somewhat unpromising theme of the Princess of Hesse-Homburg as Minerva consecrating on the Altar of Immortality the Cordon of the Order of St Catherine. Though the subject might be obscure, Pajou’s treatment of it effectively avoids both the ridiculous and the fussy. The execution is of great delicacy, with graceful chiseling of the patterned helmet and the folds of Grecian-style drapery that gently fall about the shoulders. While the bas-relief below is a piece of historical narration, the main portion is composed with deliberate calm, aiming at harmony of line, a sense of interval, and a purity of form.