A BRONZE BUST OF EMPEROR NICHOLAS I

Count Alfred Guillaume Gabriel D'Orsay (1801-1852) was a celebrated dandy, diplomat and artist. He was born in Paris, the second son of Albert Gaspard Grimaud, Comte d'Orsay, and Baroness Eleonore von Franquemont, an illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Württemberg. His sister, Ida Grimaud d'Orsay, married Antoine, 9th Duke of Gramont who left France following the French Revolution and served in the Tauride Grenadier Regiment, later fighting under Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov’s command.

Count d'Orsay produced a number of paintings, marble portrait busts and reliefs. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1843 to 1848. His bronzes include busts and equestrian figures of Wellington, Napoleon and Nicholas I.

An engraving of Count d'Orsay as interpreted by the cartoonist Rea Irvin inspired the iconic image of Eustace Tilley, a dandy peering at a butterfly through a monocle, the mascot of The New Yorker magazine.