Comte Antoine Boulay de la Meurthe

Pierre-Jean David d'Angers

National Gallery of Art

The head and neck of a clean-shaven man with short, curly hair has been carved from white marble in this freestanding sculpture bust. In this photograph, the man’s face is angled to our left. His forehead is lined, and his brow is deeply furrowed. He has a short, straight nose and a deep dimple in his philtrum over his thin upper lip. His mouth is closed in a line, and a crease cuts through his soft cheek on the side closer to us. His hair is swept forward over his high forehead. The tendons stand out in his neck, and the curved bottom edge of the bust sits on a square pedestal with an inward-curving cove. The sculpture is photographed against a gray background.