Jacques Benigne Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux

Jean-Claude-François-Joseph Rosset

1770 · Bronze on green marble socle · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Jacques Benigne Bossuet, the distinguished French Jesuit orator, theologian, bishop, and tutor to the Grand Dauphin is commemorated in this finely modeled bronze bust. Its maker came from a family of Jurassien sculptors in Saint-Claude, whose workshop specialized in the production of small religious objects from boxwood, alabaster and ivory. Decreased demand for such devotional objects in the second half of the eighteenth century led Joseph Rosset to create a series of posthumous busts of famous Frenchmen, writers, scholars, and religious leaders, as well as busts of contemporary writers and poets, the most popular being that of Voltaire.

Artist

Jean-Claude-François-Joseph Rosset

Date

1770

Medium

Bronze on green marble socle

Culture

French

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Bequest of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2019