Jean-Baptist Defernex (c. 1729 – c. 1783) was a French sculptor, best known for his portrait busts, most often of women.

Career

Little is known of Defernex's early training, but he started as a modeler at the Sèvres factory. He was sculptor to the Duc d'Orléans and worked on gilded lead statue groups of children at the Palais-Royal. Defernex was not a member of the Académie de peinture et de sculpture, but did attend the Académie de Saint-Luc. He also established a school for sculpture and drawing, where the noted Louis Jean-Jacques Durameau studied. Defernex did not receive any official commissions, and his style seems to have been regarded as unfashionable during his day. The expressions of his portrait busts have been compared to those of Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and have been described as "...honest, unidealized, quite free from gallant flattery..." by the art historian Michael Levey.

Works