Lot Essay
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), the great naturalist, geographer and explorer, was one of the most famous men in nineteenth-century Europe. During his travels throughout Europe, South America, and Russia he catalogued thousands of previously unknown plants and animals and greatly expanded knowledge in several fields of natural science, including geology, meteorology and oceanography. He was widely considered the greatest scientist of his generation. A man of immense learning and passionate republican convictions, Humboldt befriended many of Europe's leading artists, writers and politicians. The French sculptor Pierre-Jean David, called David d'Angers, met Humboldt in 1830 and the two rapidly became good friends, sharing similar ideals in politics and art.
David d'Angers was one of the greatest sculptors of the Romantic era. An enormously prolific artist, he made nearly 600 portrait busts and 500 portrait medals. He saw portraiture as a fundamentally moral art. He believed that the depiction of great individuals helped to maintain and stimulate moral virtue through the preservation of fame. "I am a history writer," David d'Angers said, "and my task is hand down to posterity the physiognomies of distinguished men of our time....I see art...as a way of teaching ideals to mankind." David d'Angers preferred to make portraits not on commission but rather as gifts for the individuals whom he depicted. The men he honored in this way included Goethe, Hugo and Paganini.
David d'Angers sculpted the present bust in 1843 as a gift for Humboldt on the occasion of the scientist's 74th birthday. In his letter of thanks to David, Humboldt wrote "The treasure, your magnificent gift, arrived just a few days before my birthday...The bust was still encased in its packing when he [Christian Daniel Rauch, the Prussian sculptor and mutual friend of David and Humboldt] already was praising the verisimilitude, suavity and finish of the work and the grand manner which characterizes your conceptions and gives to them an intellectual elevation worthy of the most noble epochs in the history of sculpture." Humboldt, however, was dismayed by the simple inscription on the marble, "à Alexandre de Humboldt, David d'Angers", remarking that he wished the sculptor had started the inscription with the words "à son ami". (It is interesting to note that the terracotta version of the sculpture, today in the Galerie David d'Angers, is inscribed in exactly this manner, possibly suggesting that the terracotta postdates the marble.) Humboldt placed the marble bust in the library of his villa at Tegel, near Berlin. It remained in the library until Humboldt's death in 1859 when it was inherited by Johann Seifert, Humboldt's former valet and sole heir. Seifert attempted to sell the entire contents of the library, including the bust, to William Corcoran, the American philanthropist. When this deal fell through, Seifert auctioned off the property on September 17-18, 1860; the entire lot passed to Asher and Co., who shortly thereafter sold the property to Henry Stevens, a book dealer in London. Stevens attemped to sell the material to the British Library, and later, to the New York Public Library, but neither institution was able to make the asking price. Stevens then sought to dispose of the material at auction at Sotheby's, but the entire library was destroyed by a fire at Sotheby's. Today, the bust is the only surviving object from Humboldt's library.
The bust is an outstanding example of David d'Angers heroic iconography in portraiture. The scale of the sculpture is monumental, the nearly Augustan features are idealized and ageless, and the forehead is very high. Also typical of David d'Angers are the active, wind-swept treatment of the hair, and the representation of the eyes without pupils or irises. In a highly suggestive passage in his Carnets, David d'Angers discussed his ideas about portraiture in relation to the Humboldt bust:
A distinguished person, upon seeing the colossal bust of Humboldt, said to me, "It's almost as big as life." When one indicates all the nuances of the truth of nature, one effectively makes the same impression which the imagination produces when one thinks of the great things that a man has done. It is an apotheosis; and I repeat, if this creation of statuary seems lifelike, [it is because] you do not see an [unnaturally] big head; rather the proportions seem natural for one of those exceptional beings which nature has shown to mankind; the scale gives the representation of the sitter a sense of the greatness of creation and the feeling of the monumental.
Indeed, the sculpture accurately captured the effect that Humboldt had on his visitors. For example, after James Byard Taylor, the American naturalist, met Humboldt in 1856 he wrote, "The first impression made by Humboldt's face is that of broad and genial humanity. His massive brow [is] heavy with the gathered wisdom of nearly a century." The bust is David d'Anger's tribute to the most widely revered scientist, writer and humanitarian in early nineteenth-century Europe.
David d'Angers was one of the greatest sculptors of the Romantic era. An enormously prolific artist, he made nearly 600 portrait busts and 500 portrait medals. He saw portraiture as a fundamentally moral art. He believed that the depiction of great individuals helped to maintain and stimulate moral virtue through the preservation of fame. "I am a history writer," David d'Angers said, "and my task is hand down to posterity the physiognomies of distinguished men of our time....I see art...as a way of teaching ideals to mankind." David d'Angers preferred to make portraits not on commission but rather as gifts for the individuals whom he depicted. The men he honored in this way included Goethe, Hugo and Paganini.
David d'Angers sculpted the present bust in 1843 as a gift for Humboldt on the occasion of the scientist's 74th birthday. In his letter of thanks to David, Humboldt wrote "The treasure, your magnificent gift, arrived just a few days before my birthday...The bust was still encased in its packing when he [Christian Daniel Rauch, the Prussian sculptor and mutual friend of David and Humboldt] already was praising the verisimilitude, suavity and finish of the work and the grand manner which characterizes your conceptions and gives to them an intellectual elevation worthy of the most noble epochs in the history of sculpture." Humboldt, however, was dismayed by the simple inscription on the marble, "à Alexandre de Humboldt, David d'Angers", remarking that he wished the sculptor had started the inscription with the words "à son ami". (It is interesting to note that the terracotta version of the sculpture, today in the Galerie David d'Angers, is inscribed in exactly this manner, possibly suggesting that the terracotta postdates the marble.) Humboldt placed the marble bust in the library of his villa at Tegel, near Berlin. It remained in the library until Humboldt's death in 1859 when it was inherited by Johann Seifert, Humboldt's former valet and sole heir. Seifert attempted to sell the entire contents of the library, including the bust, to William Corcoran, the American philanthropist. When this deal fell through, Seifert auctioned off the property on September 17-18, 1860; the entire lot passed to Asher and Co., who shortly thereafter sold the property to Henry Stevens, a book dealer in London. Stevens attemped to sell the material to the British Library, and later, to the New York Public Library, but neither institution was able to make the asking price. Stevens then sought to dispose of the material at auction at Sotheby's, but the entire library was destroyed by a fire at Sotheby's. Today, the bust is the only surviving object from Humboldt's library.
The bust is an outstanding example of David d'Angers heroic iconography in portraiture. The scale of the sculpture is monumental, the nearly Augustan features are idealized and ageless, and the forehead is very high. Also typical of David d'Angers are the active, wind-swept treatment of the hair, and the representation of the eyes without pupils or irises. In a highly suggestive passage in his Carnets, David d'Angers discussed his ideas about portraiture in relation to the Humboldt bust:
A distinguished person, upon seeing the colossal bust of Humboldt, said to me, "It's almost as big as life." When one indicates all the nuances of the truth of nature, one effectively makes the same impression which the imagination produces when one thinks of the great things that a man has done. It is an apotheosis; and I repeat, if this creation of statuary seems lifelike, [it is because] you do not see an [unnaturally] big head; rather the proportions seem natural for one of those exceptional beings which nature has shown to mankind; the scale gives the representation of the sitter a sense of the greatness of creation and the feeling of the monumental.
Indeed, the sculpture accurately captured the effect that Humboldt had on his visitors. For example, after James Byard Taylor, the American naturalist, met Humboldt in 1856 he wrote, "The first impression made by Humboldt's face is that of broad and genial humanity. His massive brow [is] heavy with the gathered wisdom of nearly a century." The bust is David d'Anger's tribute to the most widely revered scientist, writer and humanitarian in early nineteenth-century Europe.