Made in the time that Bienaimé was active in Thorvaldsen’s workshop, this male bust is proudly signed by the sculptor and is one of the few certain portraits by the artist. The portrayed gentleman has not yet been identified, but the fact that the artist has signed this work with Aloisius, the French form of his first name, suggests that the gentleman was of French nationality. The sitter looks out into the distance with a soft expression that simultaneously asserts great confidence. The bust is close in style to Thorvaldsen’s, but Bienaimé has used more softened lines in the face and hair, alleviating the severity of the marble portrait and taking a small step away from his master’s style. The long sideburns worn by the gentleman are fully Neoclassical and were very fashionable in the 1820s and 1830s. In all, this “Bust of a Gentleman” is a prime example of Neoclassical self-fashioning, translated to marble by one of the great sculptors of early nineteenth-century Rome.