AFTER JEAN-ANTOINE HOUDON (FRENCH, 1741-1828): A LATE 19TH CENTURY GILT BRONZE BUST OF LOUISE BRONGNIART BY SUSSE FRERES her hair arranged in an upswept coiffure, looking to dexter, raised on a spreading socle, stamped to the reverse 'SUSSE FRERES EDITEURS PARIS', 45cm high This bust is based on Houdon's terracotta bust of Louise Brongniart, the daughter of the Parisian architect Alexandre Theodore Brongniart who designed the city's old Stock Exchange. It was created with a pendant bust of her brother Alexandre, and they were shown as a pair at the 1777 Salon. The depiction of children in portrait form was still a relatively new field at this time and Houdon's bust proved very popular, many marble and bronze versions of them were produced and they were also reproduced in Sevres biscuit porcelain. The terracotta busts remained in the Brongniart family until the Louvre purchased them - Louise's portrait in 1898 and Alexandre's in 1900. They are now in the Louvre, Paris.