Funerary Monument for the Marquis de Tourney (for the Chapel of the Château de la Falaise)

Description

The Marquis Gallyot de Tourney commissioned this sculpture to serve as his funeral monument. It depicts a young woman gesturing with one hand toward an urn bearing the inscription Voilà ce coeur qui nous a tant aimé (Here is the heart that loved us so). The marquis specified that the figure should be a rosière, a virtuous woman of humble circumstances, a choice likely informed by the writings of Enlightenment philosophers, especially Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who championed greater social equality and democratic reform.

Provenance

Commissioned by the Marquis Gallyot de Tourny (La Falaise, France), 1787-93.; M. de Salvert, sale, Galerie Georges Petit, May 6-7, 1887, lot 31.; Alain Moatti (Paris, France), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 2002.

Funerary Monument for the Marquis de Tourney (for the Chapel of the Château de la Falaise)

François-Nicolas Delaistre

1787–1793

Accession Number

2002.53

Medium

marble

Dimensions

Overall: 170 x 85.4 x 49.5 cm (66 15/16 x 33 5/8 x 19 1/2 in.)

Classification

Sculpture

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund