World Art Utopia

Montausier — Louis-Philippe Mouchy, Paris

Louis-Philippe Mouchy’s marble statue of the Duke of Montausier, seated in an armchair in a curled wig, lace cravat and fringed sash, in the Louvre’s sculpture galleries
Artwork FileParis, France

Montausier

SeenJul 2016

Louis-Philippe Mouchy · marble, 1789 · Musée du Louvre, Paris, France · Montausier (Charles de Sainte-Maure, duc de)

Photo: Pierre-Yves Beaudouin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, 1 March 2015. Resized.

Louis-Philippe Mouchy carved this seated marble portrait of Charles de Sainte-Maure, Duke of Montausier, for the French crown’s series of statues of the Great Men of France, and showed it at the Salon of 1789. Both official records list lace and a feather among its carved details. Source Source Checked

Seen Jul 2016. Evidence date: 2016-07-18, VladoubidoOo’s dated photo of the statue in the Louvre on Wikimedia Commons; Pierre-Yves Beaudouin’s photo shows it there on 1 March 2015. The Louvre’s online record, last updated 28 December 2022, lists it on display in the Galerie des Grands Hommes but warns that room information may not be up to date. Source Source Source Checked

💡 4 things to know

  1. Ordered for the Great Men of FranceThe comte d’Angiviller, director of the King’s Buildings, ordered the statue in 1781 for the series of statues of the Great Men of France. Source Source Checked
  2. Two SalonsMouchy showed the plaster model at the Salon of 1781 and the finished marble at the Salon of 1789. The Louvre’s record gives their catalogue numbers: no. 240 in 1781 and no. 224 in 1789. Source Source Checked
  3. Lace in the catalogueThe Louvre’s subject index for the statue lists a hat, wig, lace, feather and book among its details. Source Checked
  4. A long way back to the LouvreIt was placed in the Louvre’s Salle des Antiques, which became the Institut de France’s assembly hall in 1795. It stayed with the Institut from 1806 to 1961, went to Versailles, and was deposited at the Louvre on 30 September 1987. Source Checked

📍 Where it is

Musée du Louvre, Richelieu wing, level 0, Galerie des Grands Hommes (ex-room 29), according to the Louvre’s catalogue · Paris, France Source Reported

Open in MapsLouvre record

The statue is indoors, so the button opens the museum on a plain map. The Louvre says room information in its online catalogue may be out of date while its collection tools are rebuilt.

🗓️ Sightings

  1. 1781

    Plaster model at the Salon

  2. 1789

    Marble at the Salon

  3. 198730 Sep

    Deposited at the Louvre

  4. 20151 Mar

    Photo by Pierre-Yves Beaudouin

  5. 201618 Jul

    Photo by VladoubidoOo

  6. 202228 Dec

    Louvre record lists it on display

Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.

✅ The facts

Artist
Louis-Philippe Mouchy (1734–1801) Source Source Source Checked
Sitter
Charles de Sainte-Maure, Duke of Montausier (1610–1690), governor of the Grand Dauphin Source Source Checked
Date
Commissioned in 1781; the marble is dated 1789 and signed on the plinth “MOUCHY. SCULP. / REGIS 1789”. The Joconde record gives 1781, the year of the commission, as its creation year and transcribes the signature as 1798, an evident slip, since the marble was shown at the Salon of 1789. Source Source Checked
Museum
Musée du Louvre, Paris, Department of Sculptures Source Source Checked
Material
Marble Source Source Checked
Size
163 × 103 × 97 cm (height × width × depth) Source Source Checked
Inventory
ENT 1987.03 (Joconde: ENT 1987.3) Source Source Checked
Owner
The Louvre’s catalogue (last updated December 2022) says the Institut de France owns the statue and has deposited it at the Louvre. The national Joconde database (updated February 2026) lists it as State property assigned to the Louvre, with the Institut de France as a former depositary. We lean towards the Louvre’s record, as the holding museum’s own catalogue. Source Source Conflicting
On view
Galerie des Grands Hommes, Richelieu wing, level 0 Source Reported

🔗 Related

All sources & image credits

Photo: Pierre-Yves Beaudouin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, 1 March 2015. Resized.

Last checked: 27 October 2026 · How we verify art