A Sèvres biscuit porcelain figure of Pierre Corneille from the ‘Série des Grands Hommes’, circa 1791

The series of twenty-seven monumental marble statues, known both as the ‘Grands Hommes de la France’ and the ‘Hommes Illustres de la France’, was conceived in 1776 by Charles Claude de Flahaut (1730–1809), comte d’Angiviller, minister of buildings and head of the royal manufactories, as well as the head of the academies of art and architecture to King Louis XVI (1754–1793). Considered one of France’s most ambitious sculptural projects of the 18th century, the series depicts illustrious figures from the country’s past and includes great writers, politicians, philosophers, historians, scientists and military leaders, chosen by d’Angiviller primarily for their intellect and civic virtue and unified by their shared loyalty to the French crown. These life-size sculptures were created by some of the most prominent sculptors of the Académie Royale, among them, Jean-Jacques Caffieri (1725–1792), Claude Michel Clodion (1738–1814), Étienne-Pierre Gois (1731–1823), Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828), Pierre Julien (1731-1804) and Augustin Pajou (1730–1809). Originally commissioned for the Grande Galerie of the Louvre but never installed, today they are housed at the Louvre, the Institut de France, and Versailles.

By early 1782, eight marbles had been completed and four more were in a preparatory state. Evidently satisfied with the series as it progressed, in January 1782, the comte d’ Angiviller wrote to Antoine Régnier, director of the Sèvres factory, proposing that the factory reproduce smaller versions of the statues in biscuit porcelain, an ideal material to emulate the original marble. Each sculptor was asked to provide a small terracotta version of their work, from which the modellers at Sèvres would create a mould to be used for the production of the biscuit figures. The factory required each sculptor to produce a terracotta to a height of 20 pouces (approximately 20 inches) and then to supervise the execution of the moulds taken from his terracotta. Considering the complexity and scale of the biscuit porcelain versions, progress was rapid; by June 1783, six models had been submitted to the factory and production of the biscuit versions began on 4 July. At the beginning of 1784, Louis XVI purchased twelve of the ‘Grand Hommes’, each with a beau bleu ground base, at a cost of 600 livres each. The creation of ‘La Série des Grands Hommes’ at Sèvres extended from 1783 to 1787, during which time twenty-three different figures were produced.

Louis XVI displayed biscuit figures from the series on a large round table in his private library at Versailles, including the model of Corneille (1606-1684), Montesquieu (1689-1755), Henri François d’Aguesseau (1668–1751), Jean de La Fontaine ( 1621–1695), Mathieu Molé ( 1584–1656), and Molière (1622–1673), all on gilt-edged beau bleu ground porcelain bases. Others were placed on console tables and on mantelpieces in other rooms in Versailles. Sets of twelve figures from the ‘Série des Grands Hommes’ were also included in diplomatic gifts, most notably to Gustav III (1746–1792), king of Sweden, in June 1784 and to Prince Henry of Prussia (1726–1802) in October the same year.

For a detailed discussion of the original sculpture commission and its subsequent reproduction at Sèvres, see T. Préaud and G. Scherf, La manufacture des Lumières: La sculpture à Sèvres de Louis XV à la Révolution, exh. cat., Dijon, 2015, pp. 251-255. The series is also discussed by T. Préaud, ‘Les ‘Grands Hommes’ en Sculpture à Sèvres au XIXème siècle’, The French Porcelain Society Journal, vol. II, 2005, pp. 121-132 and the twenty-three figures are illustrated by Émile Bourgeois, Le biscuit de Sèvres au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1909, vol. II, plates 42, 43.

The original marble by Jean-Jacques Caffieri is in the Louvre, Paris, inv. no. RF 3002 and a terracotta model is held at Sèvres, Cité de la céramique, inv. No. MNC 12980, illustrated T. Préaud and G. Scherf, op. cit., p. 256, no. 223.