Elfriede Clarke de Feltre
by RUXTHIEL, Henri-Joseph, Bronze, height 40 cm
Napoleon and his family chose the Italian Canova as their favourite portraitist. Nevertheless, the art of portraiture was still very much alive in France. Its qualities of realism and life brought to a peak by Houdon recur inn the animated physiognomy of the little Elfriede Clarke de Feltre while the masterful handling of the marble recalls the influence of Canova on Ruxthiel.