Marbleexpand_more
Gift of Mrs. John Barry Ryanexpand_more 75.30
Youth, beauty, wealth: Madame de Sérilly (1762–1799) had it all. Born Anne-Marie-Louise Thomas de Domangeville, she was just 17 when Jean-Antoine Houdon, the foremost French portrait sculptor of the day, captured her in this marble portrait bust. In 1794, during the "Reign of Terror" of the French Revolution, she and her husband were arrested for supporting the royal family. He was executed, she was imprisoned. She would marry twice more after her release, but at 36 she succumbed to smallpox. Houdon fared better: His fame brought him to the United States, where he sculpted busts of George Washington and other American political figures.
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