- Museum number
- 1931,1019.19.CR
- Description
-
Relief Bust of Brutus; hard-paste porcelain; bust to right, with short hair and beard, the upper part of the body clothed in a toga-like garment; no marks.
- Production date
- 1794-1800 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 3.40 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- The subject is Lucius Junius Brutus (Brutus the Elder, consul ?509 BC) who killed the last king of Rome, Tarquin, his uncle. Tarquin had put to death most of Brutus' family. Brutus himself escaped only by feigning stupidity and thus earning his name, Following the rape of Lucretia by Tarquin's son and her suicide in the presence of her father, her husband, Publius Velerius and Brutus, he vowed to rid Rome of the Tarquins. In 508 BC the first Roman republic was established, and Brutus was elected a co-consul with Collatinus. When his adolescent sons, Titus and Tiberius became part of a royalist conspiracy, Brutus ordered and witnessed their execution.
Although he had been celebrated in France from the the mid-eighteenth century (Voltaire's play Brutus was first performed in 1730), it was in the later years of the century that Brutus' name became associated with the overthrow of monarchy and the establishment of the rule of law. Jacques-Louis David began his 'Les Licteurs apportant à Brutus le corps et ses fils' in 1787; it was exhibited in the 1789 Salon. Voltaire was successfully rehabilitated by Saint-Just and Charles Villette, and his Brutus was revived on 17 November 1790, followed by a second performance two days lated, both rapturously received. Excerpts were given on the occasion of the re-interment of the philosophe's remains in the Pantheon on 11 July 1791, and the play continued to be performed through the Revolutionary period. Its last presentation was in 1799. The cult of Brutus has been extensively studied, particularly by the scholar R.L. Herbert in relation to David's painting (R.L. Herbert, 'David, Voltaire, Brutus and the French Revolution: an essay in art and politics, London, 1972). The deposition of the King was justified by the Brutus story, and on every public occasion during the Revolutionary years thje image of Brutus the elder was in evidence.
There was also a less important cult of Brutus the younger (probably 85-42 BC), the murderer of Julius Caesar, who was not, however, depicted in any French painting exhibited in the Salon until 1793 (Exh. 'La Révolution Française, Paris,1989, p. xxix).
The strength of the cult of the two Brutuses can be gauged by the fact that numerous french towns changed their names (Montfort-l'Amaury became Montfort-le-Brutus, Saint-Pierre-le-Mouriers became Brutus-le-Magnamine) and very many children were named Brutus (C. Mossé, 'L'Antiquité dans la Revolution française, Paris, 1989, pp. 64, 134-5).
This small bust is close to a marble by F.J. Boiston dated 'an 4 de la liberté' (1795-6), a facsimile of a bronze which has been in the Capitoline Museum since 1564 (Op. cit., cat no. 5355. Boiston sold plasters of the bust). The iconography is unrelated to any known in classical art: men did not wear beards at this period in antiquity (The author is grateful to Ian Jenkins of the Department of Greek and Roman Amntiquities for this information). Boiston presented his bust to the Assemblée Nationale on 1 September 1792 (Herbert, op. cit., p.90). Even before this , David had owned a copy of the Capitoline bust, from which he sketched a profile (Ibid. p. 31, fig. 16; David also sketched Brutus full-face in April 1790, see p. 66, fig. 33). The bust became an important icon, especially in 1793 and 1794. This Sèvres bust is likely to date from after December 1793 when the Convention encouraged the distribution of the image, sponsoring replicas in plaster, and Sèvres porcelain, as well as engravings (Ibid. p. 105). Some tiny engravings were made to be worn pasted on to buttons and badges worn at the Revolutionary festivals ((Ibid. fig. 52), and the small Sèvres busts may have been intended for a similar purpose.
Two plasters are preserved at the Sèvres factory, the smaller of which measures 7 cm in diameter and corresponds with the Museum bust.
It is first noted in the kiln records on 26 Ventose, l'an II (16 March 1794), when three'médallions bleu Brutus' were successfully fired (MNS. Archives de Sèvres, V I4). On 16 Thermidor, l'an VII (3 July 1799) no fewer than 336 'médallions découpés Bonaparte, Rousseau, Voltaire et Brutus' were noted as good from the kiln (Ibid.). Cameo medallions of Brutus were in stock according to an inventory taken on 11 Messidor, l'an IX (30 June 1801) (MNS. Archives de Sèvres, Y20, f.8). A bust of Brutus was also in production from from 5 Messidor, l'an II (23 June 1794) (MNS. Archives de Sèvres, Vy 11, f. 228) and various purchases in l'an II (September 1794-Septemb er 1795) are recorded, including one for a large example bought by Citoyen Clin for 5,000 livres (MNS. Archives de Sèvres, Vy 12, f. 56).
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated events
- Associated Event: French Revolution
- Acquisition date
- 1931
- Acquisition notes
- Possibly from the Blackmore Colln (note in BM register); the gift of pottery and porcelain by Dr H D Blackmore, Hon. Director of the Museum, was recorded in the 1921-2 Report of that museum, p.8. The Blackmore Museum closed in 1931.
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1931,1019.19.CR