Subjects for sculpture: portrait busts
Funerary monuments and portrait busts were the most common ways in which people were commemorated in sculpture. Sometimes the two were combined: a bust was placed on a funerary monument, or a copy of a bust on a church monument was displayed in the family house. The likeness might be taken from life or a death mask, or from some other source, such as a painting.
The way in which the male sitter was portrayed could signify his professional or aristocratic status; ancient Roman dress might imply his role in public life. Women were more rarely depicted, and often only in their role as the wife of an aristocratic husband.
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British Sculpture 1470-2000

A catalogue featuring the unrivalled collection of post-medieval British sculpture in the V&A. The collection encompasses marble portrait busts an…
Buy nowEvent - Gallery Talk: Portrait Busts of Men and Women of Letters and Literature
Tue 23 July 2013 14:00

This gallery talk, led by V&A Guide Elizabeth Hamilton, will discuss the lives of the sitters and the work of the artists, with a focus on such sculptors as Roubiliac, Canova, Rodin and Epstein.









