The other Guiffrey child
Chinard’s original found

Three years ago, the market rediscovered the first bust of the child Guiffrey, sold at the auction on March 23, 2023 (lot no. 221). The work, praised for its quality and intensity, has since entered a major American institution. It is now the original “life-cast” version that reappears.

The origin of this work is deeply marked by mourning. The death of a three-year-old child led to a singular commission: that of two original busts executed by Chinard, one derived from the other. Archival records confirm that the model was taken “from life,” using a process of striking power in the context of a posthumous portrait. The speed of execution is equally remarkable: in just twenty-two days, the artist completed the entire work, as evidenced by a receipt dated 10 Germinal, Year XI (March 31, 1803).

This document details the various stages of the work: a first bust, modeled directly from life in clay, invoiced at 300 francs; a plaster mold, for 36 francs (probably an intermediate, now lost); and finally, a clay cast taken from this mold, for 24 francs. It was this latter version that was sold in 2023. The bust presented today, by contrast, corresponds to the original—the one that carries the full intensity of the initial gesture.

The history of the work, however, includes an episode of mistaken attribution. At the 1909 Chinard retrospective, our bust—now rediscovered and then lent by Mrs. A. Doucet—was identified as the supposed portrait of the son of Camille Jordan. This confusion is all the more surprising given that, in the same exhibition, the clay cast of the same model was clearly identified as the Bust of Alexis Guiffrey, aged three (1803). The relationship between the two works was, moreover, immediately noted by contemporaries, notably Stanislas Lami.

Provenance
Commissioned by the Guiffrey family from Chinard; bust executed in 1803.
[Receipt from Chinard dated 10 Germinal, Year XI, our bust invoiced at 300 francs.]
Collection of Mrs. A. Doucet.
Exhibited at the Exposition d'œuvres du sculpteur Chinard, from Lyon at the Pavillon de Marsan (Palais du Louvre), November 1909 – January 1910. Catalogue by Paul Vitry, p. 39, no. 46, described as: “Bust of a child, presumed to be the son of Camille Jordan, deputy of the Rhône. Terracotta. H. 0.44 m. Signed: Chinard in Lyon, Ventôse Year XI.”
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Viguier.
Sale of the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Viguier, Paris, Ader-Picard, Palais Galliera, March 21, 1968, lot no. 36.
French aristocratic private collection.

Bibliography
Nouvelles archives de l'art français: recueil de documents inédits, Paris, 1873, pp. 438–439.
Bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de l'art français, Paris, 1909, p. 248.
Catalogue – Exposition d'œuvres du sculpteur Chinard, from Lyon at the Pavillon de Marsan (Palais du Louvre), November 1909 – January 1910, Paul Vitry, p. 39, nos. 46 and 57.
Stanislas Lami, Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'École française au XVIIIe siècle, 1910, vol. I, p. 209.
Willy Günther Schwark, Die Porträtwerke Chinards, doctoral thesis in art history, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, 1937, Berlin, Film Kurier, 1937, p. 94 (illustrated).

Exhibition
Exhibited at the Exposition d'œuvres du sculpteur Chinard, from Lyon at the Pavillon de Marsan (Palais du Louvre), November 1909 – January 1910. Catalogue by Paul Vitry, p. 39, no. 46, described as: “Bust of a child, presumed to be the son of Camille Jordan, deputy of the Rhône. Terracotta. H. 0.44 m. Signed: Chinard in Lyon, Ventôse Year XI.”

The presentation of this bust today, three years after the rediscovery and sale of its cast version, marks a decisive step in reconstructing the history of this work, which stands as the original and most accomplished version of the portrait conceived by Chinard in 1803. It is a rare and deeply moving testament to Lyonnais sculpture of the early 19th century, where formal mastery is combined with the intensity of memory and mourning.

Upcoming auction in preparation
Classical Arts

Thursday, May 21, 2026, 2:30 PM