Vassé's "Bambinelli" The Child Portraits of an 18Th-Century French Sculptor

"Vasse's greatest claim to glory is perhaps his really exquisite children's busts.....which herald and at times equal the delightful child portraits of Houden". This appreciation, by Louis Reau in 1930, typifies general opinion in the early decades of the century, when Louis-Claude Vasse's child portraits enchanted collectors and art historians by their liveliness and technical mastery.;In this comprehensive study of Vasse's "Bambinell" (as he called them), Bernard Black augments and corrects the knowledge of these long-neglected works by a major sculptor to Louis XV of France. More beguilingly, he identifies several of them as Vasse's own son and daughters and demonstrates that Vasse executed three busts of the eldest, Adelaide-Jeanne, during her early years, long before Houdon's famous portraits of the young Sabine.;The author also discusses the innovative contribution of Louis-Claude Vass6ls busts, in the context 6f similar works by Pigalle, Jacques Saly and succeeding sculptors, who,' introduced a new realism for the period in their vision of children. In an Appendix, an historical check-list of all the known versions of Vasse's child portraits adds to the value of this study as a lasting reference for both connoisseurs and students of 18th century French sculpture.