Name/Title
Bust of Lafayette, Jean-Antoine HoudonContext
Known as Lafayette in the United States, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1828) was a French aristocrat and military officer. He fought for the colonists during the American Revolutionary War and was a good friend of George Washington. This sculpture is a copy of an original bust of Lafayette that Houdon created circa 1790. Louis Bromfield had a companion piece to the Lafayette bust, unfortunately, the Houdon bust of Thomas Jefferson was destroyed during a fight among several of Bromfield’s boxers.
Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828) was a French neoclassical sculptor, famous for his portrait busts of prominent men of the Enlightenment. Among his subjects were Denis Diderot, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Louis XVI, Robert Fulton, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Lafayette.
- Adapted from research and text by Thomas Bachelder of the Malabar Farm FoundationLocation
Building
The Big HouseOhio State Park
Malabar Farm State Park