Deux œuvres de Louis François Roubiliac (1705 ?-1762) : les tombeaux du duc et de la duchesse de Montagu

A French sculptor of Huguenot descent, Roubiliac settled in London in 1730. He reached fame through numerous funeral monuments and portraits in bust. In 1749-1751, he sculpted the Duke of Montagu's tomb in Warkton (Northamptonshire). This work represents Charity laying down a médaillon- portrait of the late Duke, under the eyes of the mourning widow. The figure of Charity is perhaps an allusion to the Duke's Masonic attachment. In 1753-1754, in the same church and opposite the former monument, Roubiliac erected the Duchess's tomb, which develops the theme of the three Moirai snapping the thread of life. These two works by Roubiliac are characteristic of rococo funeral art, but, beyond that, they are highly revealing of a change in mentalities occurring in England in the XVIIIth century.