ArtPage on Busts

bust - A portrait sculpture or a painting representing a person's head, neck, shoulders and upper chest, and perhaps the upper arms.

Examples:

Rome, Bust of Emperor Philip the Arab, c. mid-3rd century CE, marble, height 72.3 cm, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. See Roman art.

Hans Multscher (German, c.1400-1467), Reliquary Bust of a Female Saint, c. 1460, bronze, height 12 5/8 inches (32 cm), Frick Collection, NY. See reliquary.

Francesco Laurana (Italian, c.1430 - c.1502), Bust of a Lady, c.1470s, marble, height 18 3/4 inches (46.6 cm), width 18 inches (45.8 cm), diameter of base 9 3/8 inches (23.9 cm), Frick Collection, NY. The Frick has another bust by Laurana, of Beatrice of Aragon, c. 1470s, also white marble.

Andrea del Verrocchio (Italian, 1435-1488), Bust of a Young Woman, marble, height 18 7/8 inches (48 cm), width 19 3/16 inches (48.7 cm), diameter 9 3/8 inches (23.8 cm), Frick Collection, NY. See Renaissance.

Unknown Italian, Ecce Homo, Faenza or Florence, about 1500, tin-glazed earthenware, height 23 3/4 inches (60.3 cm), J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, CA. See ecce homo.

Antico (Italian, 1460-1528), Bust of Young Man, Mantua, about 1520, bronze with silver inlay; later gilt bronze drapery, 21 1/2 x 17 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches (54.7 x 45.0 x 22.3 cm), J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, CA. The pedestal-type base of this bust has a socle.

Girolamo della Robbia (Italian, 1488-1566), Bust of a Man, France, about 1526 - 1535, tin-glazed earthenware, 18 1/4 x 7 inches (46.4 x 16 cm), J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, CA.

Danese Cattaneo (Italian, c.1509-1572), Bust of a Jurist, mid 16th century, bronze, height 27 3/8 inches (69.5 cm), Frick Collection, NY. Inscribed on the base: TITI[A]NO / VECELLI / 1540

Federico Brandani (Italian, c.1522/1525-1575) (attributed to), Antonio Galli, c.1560, bronze, height 23 1/4 inches (59 cm), Frick Collection, NY. Inscribed on the base: ANTONIUS.GALLUS

Jacques Jonghelinck (Flemish, 1530-1606), The Duke of Alba, 1571, bronze, height 45 7/8 inches (116.5 cm), Frick Collection, NY. Inscribed on the curved face of the base: FERDINAND, / ALBAE / DVX; and, on the lowest riser: IVNGELLINGUS OPTIMO DVCI / 1571

Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640), Bust of the Pseudo-Seneca, before 1626, pen and brown ink over black chalk heightened with white, with brush and gray ink, 10 3/8 x 7 inches (26.5 x 17.7 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. See Baroque.

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Aristotle with a Bust of Homer, 1653, oil on canvas, 56 1/2 x 53 3/4 inches (143.5 x 136.5 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. (On the Met's page, you can enlarge any detail.)

Antoine Coysevox (French, 1640-1720), Robert de Cotte, early 18th century, bronze, height 21 3/8 inches (54.3 cm), Frick Collection, NY.

Antoine Coysevox, Louis XV as a Child of Six, 1716, marble, height 23 1/2 inches (59 cm), Frick Collection, NY.

Francis Harwood (English, active 1748-1783), Bust of a Man, Florence, Italy, 1758, black stone (pietra da paragone) on a yellow Siena marble socle, height 27 1/2 x 19 3/4 x 10 1/2 inches (69.9 x 50.2 x 26.7 cm), J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, CA.

Jean-Antoine Houdon (French, 1741-1828), The Comtesse du Cayla, 1777, marble, height of bust 21 1/4 inches (54 cm), height of stand 5 5/8 inches (14.3 cm), Frick Collection, NY. Inscribed on the back of the stand: A. HOUDON, F. AN. 1777

Jean-Antoine Houdon, Armand-Thomas Hue, Marquis de Miromesnil, 1777, marble, height of bust 25 1/2 inches (64.8 cm), height of stand 6 3/4 inches (17.2 cm), Frick Collection, NY. Inscribed on the back of the bust: A.T. HUE...DE MIROMENIL. FAIT PAR HOUDON EN 1777

Hiram Powers (American, 1805-1873), Andrew Jackson, 1834-1835 (this version, 1839), marble, 34 3/4 x 23 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches (88.3 x 59.7 x 39.4 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879), Charles Philipon (1800-1861), Journalist and Director of the Magazines Caricature and Charivari, c.1833, terra cruda (unfired clay) bust painted with oil, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France. See caricature and French art, and many more of Daumier's clay caricatures at ABC Gallery.

Henry Kirke Brown (American, 1814-1886), William Cullen Bryant (American poet, 1794-1878), 1846, marble, 19 3/4 inches high, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC.

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917), Balzac, 1892, bronze, 31.1 x 34.3 x 22.9 cm, Tate Gallery, London. Honoré de Balzac (French, 1799-1850) was a famous novelist. See pedestal, plinth, portrait, and socle.

Boleslas Biegas (Polish, 1877-1954), 1902, Sphinx, sculpture, bust, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. See Polish art, sphinx, and Symbolism.

Salvador Dalí (Spanish, 1904-1989; active in Paris and New York), Retrospective Bust of a Woman (Buste de femme rétrospectif), 1933, some elements reconstructed 1970, painted porcelain, bread, corn, feathers, paint on paper, 29 x 27 1/4 x 12 5/8 inches (73.9 x 69.2 x 32 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY. See Surrealism.

Also see ala and alar groove, bust, niche, philtrum, portrait, self-portrait, septum, and statue.