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museum of decorative Arts and Design

musée des Arts décoratifs
et du Design de Bordeaux
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39 rue Bouffard,
33000 Bordeaux

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The Montesquieu bust, De l’esprit des lois, 1748<br/> &copy;  madd Bordeaux - L. Gauthier
The Montesquieu bust, De l’esprit des lois, 1748
© madd Bordeaux - L. Gauthier
object n°06

The Montesquieu bust

1767

The object of the month of October is the famous sculpture representing Charles-Louis de Secondat baron de la Brède and Montesquieu by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, sculptor to the king, dated 1767. Commissioned after the death of the author of De l'esprit des lois (1748) by the Académie des Sciences, Belles-Lettres et Arts de Bordeaux, the sculpture was part of a prosperous period for the city, enriched by both trade and the intellectual exchanges of the Enlightenment. Montesquieu was a member and then director of the Academy, and his death was followed by a veritable cult on the part of the academics and the city. Hence the creation, until the 20th century, of effigies of the great man, all made from this marble, in plaster or porcelain, intended to adorn the various cultural sites of the city.

This presentation takes place at a time when the Académie des Sciences, Belles-Lettres et Arts de Bordeaux is celebrating its tercentenary on 3, 4 and 5 October 2012 and is publishing Un passé qui éclaire l'avenir, 1712-2012, Bordeaux, 2012

object n°06 (pdf)

previous objects of the month

object N°53
Gift of the Friends of the madd-bordeaux - Inv. 2020.18.1 to 2020.18.11
object n°52
Purchase from the City of Bordeaux - Inv. 82.3.1
object n°51
Old fund of the City of Bordeaux - Inv. 7110
object n°50
Fixed under glass: glass, oil paint, gold and palladium leaf - Gift of Mr Daniel Thierry - Inv. 2018.1.1
object n°49
after Eugène Lami (1800 - 1890), 1829 - Purchase from the City of Bordeaux, 1958 - Inv.58.1.2270
object n°48
Don du designer au madd-bordeaux en 2018 - Inv. 2018.15.1
object n°47
Deposit of the Musée national de céramique, Sèvres, 1978 - Inv D 2008.0.81 to 109
object n°46
Purchase by City of Bordeaux, 1971, inv. 71.4.1
object n°45
Gift of the Association des Amis des Musées de Bordeaux, 1996 - Inv 96.2.15
object n°44
Gift of M. Olivier Droin, 2017 - Inv 2017.1.1
object n°43
Old fund of the City of Bordeaux - Inv 9988
object n°42
Gift of the Kreo Gallery, 2014 - Inv 2014.10.11
object n°41
Deposit of the CHU of Bordeaux, 2009 - Inv D 2009.6.4
object n°40
Old fund of the City of Bordeaux - Inv 46 33
object n°39
Gift of the Bordeaux Friends of Vincent Poujardieu, 2011 - Inv 2011.2.2
object n°38
Purchase by the City of Bordeaux with the help of the Friends of the Hôtel de Lalande, 1986 - Inv 86.3.10
object n°37
Deposited in 1924 in the museum
object n°36
Gift of Arc en rêve - architecture centre, 2001 - Inv 2001.6.1