PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN

Terracotta is a delicate material and many pieces of this age have suffered from poor repairs or surface treatments in the past. Our conservation of this piece involved careful cleaning and improvement of the appearance of the surface and of some slight, old repairs.

Jean-Baptiste Boudard (1710-1768) won the Prix de Rome when he was only 22 years old. In 1748 he joined the court of Infante Don Felipe of Bourbon, who would later move his seat to the Duchy of Parma. Between 1754 and 1765, Boudard carved the marble statues for the Ducal Park, including Bacchus, Ariadne, Zephyrus, Flora (1754), Apollo (1755), the series of big vases and the Silenus and Eagle marble group (1765).