Funerary Monument for the Marquis de Tourney (for the Chapel of the Château de la Falaise)

Also known as: Figure of a Young Girl

About the Artwork

The Marquis Gallyot de Tourney commissioned this sculpture to serve as his funeral monument. It depicts a young woman gesturing with one hand toward an urn bearing the inscription Voilà ce coeur qui nous a tant aimé (Here is the heart that loved us so). The marquis specified that the figure should be a rosière, a virtuous woman of humble circumstances, a choice likely informed by the writings of Enlightenment philosophers, especially Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who championed greater social equality and democratic reform.

Provenance

Commissioned by the Marquis Gallyot de Tourny (La Falaise, France), 1787-93. M. de Salvert, sale, Galerie Georges Petit, May 6-7, 1887, lot 31. Alain Moatti (Paris, France), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 2002.

Quick Overview

Artist: François-Nicolas Delaistre (French, 1746–1832)
Date: 1787–1793
Medium: marble
Dimensions: Overall: 170 x 85.4 x 49.5 cm (66 15/16 x 33 5/8 x 19 1/2 in.)
Type: Sculpture
Classification: Sculpture
Department: European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line: The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
Accession no.: 2002.53

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.