A PLASTER BUST OF ROUSSEAU

WORKSHOP OF JEAN-ANTOINE HOUDON (1741-1828), 1778

細節

A PLASTER BUST OF ROUSSEAU
WORKSHOP OF JEAN-ANTOINE HOUDON (1741-1828), 1778
On a circular waisted socle; inscribed 'Houdon 1778' on the truncation of the right shoulder.
Minor chips; restorations.
26 in. (67.3 cm.) high, overall

來源

Probably a gift from Ren, Marquis de Girardin to George Simon, 2nd Earl Harcourt.
By descent in the Harcourt family until sold, Sotheby's (The selected contents originally at Nuneham Park, now removed from the manor at Harcourt Stanton) 10 June 1993, lot 701, as 19th century.

出版

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
L. Rau, Houdon - son vie et son oeuvre, Paris, 1964, no. 184.

拍場告示

Please note that there is a fragmentary wax seal from the Houdon workshop on the reverse of this bust.

拍品專文

At the time he succeeded to his father's titles, George Simon, 2nd Earl Harcourt, was a man of republican tendencies - the 'gentle executioner' as Walpole referred to him. His friendship with Rousseau, which developed during the latter's stay in England, is well-documented, and letters from Rousseau remain among the Harcourt family archives.

When Rousseau died in 1778 in the arms of the Marquis de Girardin, Houdon was summoned to take a death mask upon which the artist's famous portraits of Rousseau would be based. The present example was almost certainly a gift from Girardin to Harcourt, and must correspond to one of two plasters which appear in the Harcourt General Account Book. The first payment appears 15 June 1780 'By Freight and Custom House fees for a french plaster bust - 3 18 6', and the second is dated 16 November 1784, 'Paid Freight Duty and other expences for a plaister bust of M. Rousseau sent from Paris - 3 4 4'. The journey of this latter bust must also be recorded by a payment dated 9 December 1784, 'Paid M. Davis the carriage & of a case from Paris to Calais - 14 3'.