(born Ghent, active Paris/New York, circa 1868-1882)

Bust of Free Man, signed on proper left edge of base "Blezer", patinated bronze, 23-1/2 x 21 x 14 in. (56.69 x 53.34 cm.)

Provenance: Private Collection

Note: Born into a noble family in Ghent, Belgium, Joseph Charles de Blezer traveled to Paris to pursue a career in sculpture and the decorative arts. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts with Jean-Baptiste Clesinger and exhibited regularly at the official salon from 1863 to 1881.  De Blezer's colossal plaster bust of the great American abolitionist John Brown (1800-1859) was exhibited in the Salon of 1870. A bronze cast of this work was purchased in Paris in 1976 by a trustee of Oberlin College. It was a gift to the college, where it remains on view to this day. This bust of a handsome man, possibly Mulatto, was, perhaps, inspired by the abolitionist movement in the United States and in France in the mid-Nineteenth Century.  In it, de Blezer used a compositional device similar to the one used in his portrait of John Brown; however, instead of a rope wrapped around the collar of the shirt, there is a scarf loosely draped around the unbuttoned collar. The young man stares directly at the viewer, with a look of confidence. He appears to be a man of quiet elegance and is depicted by de Blezer in a manner that recalls the work of the Renaissance sculptor Alessandro Vittoria (Trent 1525-1628 Venice)