.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Houdon, the greatest sculptor of the late 18th century, depicted royalty, aristocrats and the political, intellectual and mercantile elite of late 18th century Europe. However, as Anne Poulet noted in her 2003 exhibition catalogue, Houdon considered his portrait of Washington the most important commission of his career (Jean-Antoine Houdon: Sculptor of the Enlightenment, Washington, 2003, p. 263).
This collaboration between the Ancien Régime’s most celebrated sculptor and the New World’s first elected leader was an extraordinary moment in the artistic life of the young America. Only a year after the signing of the Paris treaty that ended the Revolutionary War and gave America its independence, in 1784 the Virginia legislature voted for ‘a statue of George Washington, to be of the finest marble and best workmanship’ and none other than Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson recommended that Houdon be given the commission with Jefferson writing from Paris to Washington himself stating that ‘I find that a Monsieur Houdon of this place, possesses the reputation of being the first statuary in this world’ (Ibid.).
While originally conceived as a life-size bronze equestrian monument, it was eventually decided that a bust-length marble and a standing figure would be more achievable. Houdon arrived in the US, accompanied by Benjamin Franklin in 1785 and worked at Mount Vernon for several weeks and, after returning to Paris, produced the marble bust which is the same model as the present plaster. Besides the marble, now in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, there is a terracotta in the collections of the Louvre and a plaster at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Again, as noted by Poulet, this version of Washington is both more introspective and less haughty then the life-size marble Houdon eventually supplied to the Capitol Building at Richmond that was completed in 1792 (Ibid.).
Réau, in his iconic volumes on Houdon published in 1929, discusses the present plaster bust at great length as his monograph was published just two years after the present bust was sold in Paris. As the 1994 Milwaukee auction catalogue states, Réau mentions that the present bust is dated ‘177…’ and, therefore, considerably before the Washington commission. However the ‘8’ is clearly visible and perhaps even the entire ‘85’, making the inscription of ‘1785’ almost certain. As this was one of Houdon most popular creations, he was even commissioned by Rodolphe-Ferdinand Grand in 1804 to produce between one and two hundred plaster busts of Washington but, as Poulet notes, this commission was apparently never fulfilled (Op. cit. p. 266). The present bust has the red wax seal from the Houdon’s studio but it is not clear when it left the artist’s studio.
This collaboration between the Ancien Régime’s most celebrated sculptor and the New World’s first elected leader was an extraordinary moment in the artistic life of the young America. Only a year after the signing of the Paris treaty that ended the Revolutionary War and gave America its independence, in 1784 the Virginia legislature voted for ‘a statue of George Washington, to be of the finest marble and best workmanship’ and none other than Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson recommended that Houdon be given the commission with Jefferson writing from Paris to Washington himself stating that ‘I find that a Monsieur Houdon of this place, possesses the reputation of being the first statuary in this world’ (Ibid.).
While originally conceived as a life-size bronze equestrian monument, it was eventually decided that a bust-length marble and a standing figure would be more achievable. Houdon arrived in the US, accompanied by Benjamin Franklin in 1785 and worked at Mount Vernon for several weeks and, after returning to Paris, produced the marble bust which is the same model as the present plaster. Besides the marble, now in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, there is a terracotta in the collections of the Louvre and a plaster at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Again, as noted by Poulet, this version of Washington is both more introspective and less haughty then the life-size marble Houdon eventually supplied to the Capitol Building at Richmond that was completed in 1792 (Ibid.).
Réau, in his iconic volumes on Houdon published in 1929, discusses the present plaster bust at great length as his monograph was published just two years after the present bust was sold in Paris. As the 1994 Milwaukee auction catalogue states, Réau mentions that the present bust is dated ‘177…’ and, therefore, considerably before the Washington commission. However the ‘8’ is clearly visible and perhaps even the entire ‘85’, making the inscription of ‘1785’ almost certain. As this was one of Houdon most popular creations, he was even commissioned by Rodolphe-Ferdinand Grand in 1804 to produce between one and two hundred plaster busts of Washington but, as Poulet notes, this commission was apparently never fulfilled (Op. cit. p. 266). The present bust has the red wax seal from the Houdon’s studio but it is not clear when it left the artist’s studio.