c.1740; National Museum, Stockholm). Sculpture was equally lively and unheroic, but its most typical manifestation was portrait busts, the outstanding quality of which was realism, as is evident in the Jean Baptiste Lemoyne Reaumur (1751; Louvre) (Discover France, 1)."
Rococo seems to have been designed specifically for a figure as flamboyant as Madame de Pompadour. Madame de Pompadour was an accomplished woman who enjoyed the embellishment of the Rococo interior style of decoration. Deeply interested in literature due to her exceptional education, she brought Voltaire to the royal court and patronized his writing (Wikipedia, 1). According to Colin Jones (1), in redefining the role of the royal mistress and maintaining her position, Pompadour drew upon her beauty and her physical attributes. She was said to have a beautiful voice, know many songs, understand music perfectly, and participate enthusiastically in plays that were staged in her private rooms and many residences.
Jones (3) wrote the following about
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