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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°16
Gift of the Viscount of Pelleport-Burète, 1927 - Inv 1085
object n°15
Gift of Eulalie Gouzenne, 1959 - Inv 59.7.3
object n°14
Gift of the Association of Friends of the Hôtel de Lalande, 1991 - Inv 91.2.6
object n°13
Purchase from the City of Bordeaux, 1975 - Inv 75.3.10
object n°12
Purchase from the City of Bordeaux, 1958 - Inv 58.1.11 350
object n°11
Purchase from the City of Bordeaux, 1959 - Inv 59.3.1
object n°10
Fnac deposit, 2009 - Inv D 2009.3.6
object n°09
Purchase from the City of Bordeaux, 1986 - Inv 86.3.1 & 86.3.2
object n°08
Gift of Viscount and Viscountess Alain de Baritault du Carpia, 2012 - Inv 2012.5.1 & 2012.5.2
object n°07
XVIIth century
object n°06
1767
object n°05
XVIIe siècle
object n°04
Legs d'André Lataillade, 1969 - Inv 69.3.198 & 69.3.199
object n°01
CAPC depot