Bolette Puggaard 1864

H.W. Bissen sculpted this marble bust of Bolette Puggaard in Denmark at an unknown date. The bust presents us with an image of bourgeois respectability. Bissen was a leading sculptor who trained with Bertel Thorvaldsen, whose neoclassical style dominated Danish art. The Puggaard family were wealthy merchants prominent in Copenhagen society. The bust would likely have been commissioned to celebrate their status. Notice the way Bolette’s dress and hair are rendered in a classical style. It's a formal pose intended to project a sense of dignity and virtue, and to represent the sitter as an educated woman. The smooth finish of the marble and the idealized features contribute to the impression of refinement. To understand the work better, it's helpful to research the networks of patronage. Who commissioned it? Where would it have been displayed? What did it mean for the Puggaard family to be represented in this way? Historical archives can tell us something about the social life of this sculpture.