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Marie-Sébastien-Charles-François Fontaine de Biré
French, 1785 Marble 2003.102 The J. Paul Getty Museum
Marie-Sébastien-Charles-François Fontaine de Biré (1727–1803) was a financial administrator during the reign of Louis XVI. Houdon's marble was likely commissioned to commemorate de Biré's new position. As a financial minister to the king, de Biré endured much scrutiny during the Revolution—he was removed from his official post and endured several arrests and imprisonments—but managed to survive with his head intact.
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Bust of Marie-Sébastien-Charles-François Fontaine de Biré
French, Paris, 1785 Marble 2 ft. 2 5/8 in. x 1 ft. 9 5/8 in. x 1 ft. 1 11/16 in.
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Through exacting realism, Jean-Antoine Houdon convincingly captured the skin's texture, and the underlying bone and musculature of this eminent figure. The sitter's attire and hair--styled with a long ponytail at the back--indicate his status as a high-ranking French government official. But Monsieur de Biré's personality also shows through in the bust's subtle features. The wrinkles around his eyes and the soft jowls that brush his scarf reveal advanced age. Yet his sparkling eyes and the upturned corners of his lips, which hint at a smile, convey a warm disposition. To accurately render Biré's likeness, Houdon measured his head and face with calipers, and probably made a plaster "life mask" for reference. He probably modeled the bust first in clay, and then made a plaster cast. From those initial studies, Houdon would have produced this final marble version, which he gave to the sitter. Biré may have commissioned the bust to celebrate his newly appointed position as a treasury official under Louis XVI.
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Jean-Antoine HOUDON - Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828
Condorcet (1743 - 1794) Vers 1785 Terre cuite H. : 0,59 m. ; L. : 0,49 m. ; Pr. : 0,31 m. Le buste est le modèle du marbre daté de 1785 (Philadelphie, Philosophical Society). Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet, philosophe et mathématicien, entra à l'Académie des Sciences en 1769, et en devint le secrétaire. Il participa à la rédaction de l'Encyclopédie. Sous la Révolution, il fut député à
l'Assemblée législative et à la Convention. Arrêté sous la Terreur comme girondin, il mourut en prison. 
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Marie-Sébastien-Charles-François Fontaine de Biré
French, 1785 Marble 2003.102 The J. Paul Getty Museum
Marie-Sébastien-Charles-François Fontaine de Biré (1727–1803) was a financial administrator during the reign of Louis XVI. Houdon's marble was likely commissioned to commemorate de Biré's new position. As a financial minister to the king, de Biré endured much scrutiny during the Revolution—he was removed from his official post and endured several arrests and imprisonments—but managed to survive with his head intact.
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Bust of Marie-Sébastien-Charles-François Fontaine de Biré
French, Paris, 1785 Marble 2 ft. 2 5/8 in. x 1 ft. 9 5/8 in. x 1 ft. 1 11/16 in.
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Through exacting realism, Jean-Antoine Houdon convincingly captured the skin's texture, and the underlying bone and musculature of this eminent figure. The sitter's attire and hair--styled with a long ponytail at the back--indicate his status as a high-ranking French government official. But Monsieur de Biré's personality also shows through in the bust's subtle features. The wrinkles around his eyes and the soft jowls that brush his scarf reveal advanced age. Yet his sparkling eyes and the upturned corners of his lips, which hint at a smile, convey a warm disposition. To accurately render Biré's likeness, Houdon measured his head and face with calipers, and probably made a plaster "life mask" for reference. He probably modeled the bust first in clay, and then made a plaster cast. From those initial studies, Houdon would have produced this final marble version, which he gave to the sitter. Biré may have commissioned the bust to celebrate his newly appointed position as a treasury official under Louis XVI.
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Jean-Antoine HOUDON - Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828
Condorcet (1743 - 1794) Vers 1785 Terre cuite H. : 0,59 m. ; L. : 0,49 m. ; Pr. : 0,31 m. Le buste est le modèle du marbre daté de 1785 (Philadelphie, Philosophical Society). Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet, philosophe et mathématicien, entra à l'Académie des Sciences en 1769, et en devint le secrétaire. Il participa à la rédaction de l'Encyclopédie. Sous la Révolution, il fut député à
l'Assemblée législative et à la Convention. Arrêté sous la Terreur comme girondin, il mourut en prison. 
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Jean-Antoine Houdon (Versailles, 1741-Paris, 1828) Buffon (1707-1788) Probably the marble shown at the 1793 Salon
Jean-Antoine HOUDON - Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828
Buffon (1707-1788)
Buffon, botanist and man of the Enlightenment, was in his time as famous as Voltaire. Houdon portrays him in the antique style, with a rounded truncation of the naked torso, a type he had inaugurated with his bust of Diderot. He imbues his portrait with a vivacity that emphasizes the 74-year-old man's intellectual and physical vigor
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A scientist famous throughout Europe
Buffon (1707-1788)
Buffon, botanist and man of the Enlightenment, was in his time as famous as Voltaire. Houdon portrays him in the antique style, with a rounded truncation of the naked torso, a type he had inaugurated with his bust of Diderot. He imbues his portrait with a vivacity that emphasizes the 74-year-old man's intellectual and physical vigor
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A scientist famous throughout Europe
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The naturalist Georges Louis Leclerc, Count de Buffon (he received the title from Louis XV in 1771), was appointed Keeper of the Jardin du Roi, the king's botanical garden (which later became the Museum of Natural History), in 1739. From 1744 to 1788, he wrote his monumental Histoire naturelle, genérale et particulière, which covered the whole of the mineral world and the animal kingdom. A man of the Enlightenment, he believed scientific knowledge should be based on experimentation. The publication of his Epoques de la nature in 1779, written in a clear, noble style, won him the admiration of educated circles all over Europe, including several kings. Empress Catherine II of Russia considered Buffon the equal of Newton, and she commissioned Houdon to sculpt a marble bust of the naturalist. The German writer Melchior Grimm, a friend of Diderot who kept European courts informed of intellectual developments in Paris, acted as her intermediary. In 1782 the portrait was sent to Saint Petersburg and installed in the Hermitage Museum. Buffon, too old to make the journey, delegated his son to take it there for him. A marble copy, probably the Louvre sculpture in veined marble, was presented at the 1783 Salon.
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The naturalist Georges Louis Leclerc, Count de Buffon (he received the title from Louis XV in 1771), was appointed Keeper of the Jardin du Roi, the king's botanical garden (which later became the Museum of Natural History), in 1739. From 1744 to 1788, he wrote his monumental Histoire naturelle, genérale et particulière, which covered the whole of the mineral world and the animal kingdom. A man of the Enlightenment, he believed scientific knowledge should be based on experimentation. The publication of his Epoques de la nature in 1779, written in a clear, noble style, won him the admiration of educated circles all over Europe, including several kings. Empress Catherine II of Russia considered Buffon the equal of Newton, and she commissioned Houdon to sculpt a marble bust of the naturalist. The German writer Melchior Grimm, a friend of Diderot who kept European courts informed of intellectual developments in Paris, acted as her intermediary. In 1782 the portrait was sent to Saint Petersburg and installed in the Hermitage Museum. Buffon, too old to make the journey, delegated his son to take it there for him. A marble copy, probably the Louvre sculpture in veined marble, was presented at the 1783 Salon.
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A prodigious output
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The great portraitists of the time had already portrayed the scientist: the painter François-Hubert Drouais in 1761, the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Defernex in 1772, and above all Augustin Pajou, First Sculptor to the King, in 1776. The latter received a commission from the Directorate of the King's Buildings for a monumental full-length statue. He depicted Buffon in the antique style, as a draped nude looking down over the animal kingdom. He made three busts from it, in various costumes, including one in the "French style," i.e., in contemporary costume (Louvre).
The great portraitists of the time had already portrayed the scientist: the painter François-Hubert Drouais in 1761, the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Defernex in 1772, and above all Augustin Pajou, First Sculptor to the King, in 1776. The latter received a commission from the Directorate of the King's Buildings for a monumental full-length statue. He depicted Buffon in the antique style, as a draped nude looking down over the animal kingdom. He made three busts from it, in various costumes, including one in the "French style," i.e., in contemporary costume (Louvre).
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An old man full of vigor
An old man full of vigor
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Houdon also portrayed Buffon in the antique style, with a naked torso whose rounded truncation cuts off the shoulders. He had already used this habitual way of portraying philosophers for his busts of Voltaire and Diderot (Louvre). But whereas Pajou sought to convey Buffon's genius, Houdon shows the man. Although he has not idealized the 74-year-old scientist, his powerful face and neck give him a vigorous air. He is not wearing a wig, and his natural hair is curled at the temples and tied in a bow. The complete absence of accessories allows one to concentrate on the face. The scientist's authority and superior intellect are conveyed by the almost haughty way he holds his head, his noble, prominent forehead and his keen eye. The bust is animated: the head is pivoting to the left (accentuating the neck tendon) and the lips are half open, as if he were about to speak. The work met with such success that Houdon reproduced it in different materials, including one in the "French style," with his shirt open at the neck.
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Houdon and the European Courts
Houdon also portrayed Buffon in the antique style, with a naked torso whose rounded truncation cuts off the shoulders. He had already used this habitual way of portraying philosophers for his busts of Voltaire and Diderot (Louvre). But whereas Pajou sought to convey Buffon's genius, Houdon shows the man. Although he has not idealized the 74-year-old scientist, his powerful face and neck give him a vigorous air. He is not wearing a wig, and his natural hair is curled at the temples and tied in a bow. The complete absence of accessories allows one to concentrate on the face. The scientist's authority and superior intellect are conveyed by the almost haughty way he holds his head, his noble, prominent forehead and his keen eye. The bust is animated: the head is pivoting to the left (accentuating the neck tendon) and the lips are half open, as if he were about to speak. The work met with such success that Houdon reproduced it in different materials, including one in the "French style," with his shirt open at the neck.
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Houdon and the European Courts
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Houdon held the title of sculpteur du roi (sculptor to the king) during the reign of Louis XVI. Although he received very few French royal commissions, Houdon's fame spread throughout Europe through enthusiastic recommendations of Enlightenment thinkers and visits made to his Paris studio by traveling aristocrats, diplomats, and royalty who commissioned their portraits from him.
-Jean-Antoine HOUDON - Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828
Robert Fulton
French, 1803–4 Marble Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Dexter M. Ferry Jr.
Robert Fulton (1765–1815) was an American engineer, inventor, and artist. With Robert R. Livingston, Fulton developed the first commercially successful steamboat in America.
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Robert Fulton
French, 1803–4 Marble Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Dexter M. Ferry Jr.
Robert Fulton (1765–1815) was an American engineer, inventor, and artist. With Robert R. Livingston, Fulton developed the first commercially successful steamboat in America.
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Hair
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Houdon distinguished himself from other 18th-century sculptors in his manner of carving hair. He fashioned it as a unit, sculpting it in masses, instead of trying to carve each strand. De Biré is depicted here with his hair dressed as if it were a short wig, and a queue (ponytail) tied with a ribbon lying down his back.
Houdon makes it clear that de Biré wears his own hair. Compare this with Houdon's portrait of Voltaire (below), who is depicted with an actual wig, which was fashionable at the time. A sharp line distinguishes the wig from the skin around the face, and the ordered lines in the smooth curls create an unnatural, clumped appearance.
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Houdon and America
Houdon distinguished himself from other 18th-century sculptors in his manner of carving hair. He fashioned it as a unit, sculpting it in masses, instead of trying to carve each strand. De Biré is depicted here with his hair dressed as if it were a short wig, and a queue (ponytail) tied with a ribbon lying down his back.
Houdon makes it clear that de Biré wears his own hair. Compare this with Houdon's portrait of Voltaire (below), who is depicted with an actual wig, which was fashionable at the time. A sharp line distinguishes the wig from the skin around the face, and the ordered lines in the smooth curls create an unnatural, clumped appearance.
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Houdon and America
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During the American Revolutionary War era, Houdon sculpted many prominent heroes of the fledgling republic. His statue of George Washington stands in the capitol building in Richmond, Virginia—a commission awarded at the recommendation of his friends Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Houdon's portrait of Jefferson was chosen in 1938 for the
American nickel, still in circulation today. 
Jean-Antoine Houdon, French, 1741–1828
François-Marie Arouet, called Voltaire
French, 1780 Marble Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften Archiv
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Jean-Antoine HOUDON - Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828 Voltaire (1694 - 1778) 1778
"One of the finest attributes of the very difficult art of statuary is to preserve shapes accurately and render nearly imperishable the image of the men who have brought their country glory or happiness." Houdon's definition applies perfectly to his portrait of Voltaire, who was a veritable icon of the Enlightenment. He reproduced it many times, but Voltaire never lost his sardonic smile or the twinkle in his eye.
François-Marie Arouet, called Voltaire
French, 1780 Marble Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften Archiv
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Jean-Antoine HOUDON - Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828 Voltaire (1694 - 1778) 1778
"One of the finest attributes of the very difficult art of statuary is to preserve shapes accurately and render nearly imperishable the image of the men who have brought their country glory or happiness." Houdon's definition applies perfectly to his portrait of Voltaire, who was a veritable icon of the Enlightenment. He reproduced it many times, but Voltaire never lost his sardonic smile or the twinkle in his eye.
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Voltaire and Houdon
Voltaire and Houdon
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Voltaire symbolizes the spirit of the Enlightenment par excellence. These days he is known as a philosopher and a champion of tolerance, but he was also a famous playwright, poet, and historian. After twenty years in exile in Ferney (Switzerland), he returned to Paris in February 1778, at the age of eighty-three and in poor health, and was given a triumphal welcome. When he attended a performance of his play Irene at the Comédie-Française, his statue was crowned with laurels and the patriarch was given a standing ovation. Houdon, who had not met him before, managed several sittings before Voltaire died on 30 May 1778. Of the many busts made of Voltaire, only the bare-headed one by Houdon wholly pleased the great man. Houdon also molded Voltaire's funerary mask. He used all this material to produce several types of bust, two of which are represented in the Louvre, and reproduced them in various media (marble, bronze, terracotta, plaster).
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Voltaire symbolizes the spirit of the Enlightenment par excellence. These days he is known as a philosopher and a champion of tolerance, but he was also a famous playwright, poet, and historian. After twenty years in exile in Ferney (Switzerland), he returned to Paris in February 1778, at the age of eighty-three and in poor health, and was given a triumphal welcome. When he attended a performance of his play Irene at the Comédie-Française, his statue was crowned with laurels and the patriarch was given a standing ovation. Houdon, who had not met him before, managed several sittings before Voltaire died on 30 May 1778. Of the many busts made of Voltaire, only the bare-headed one by Houdon wholly pleased the great man. Houdon also molded Voltaire's funerary mask. He used all this material to produce several types of bust, two of which are represented in the Louvre, and reproduced them in various media (marble, bronze, terracotta, plaster).
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Voltaire in a Wig
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This bust shows the philosopher in contemporary clothing and wearing a wig, which is incidentally rather outmoded. It portrays a man rooted in his times, prepared to fight for his ideas, such as the rehabilitation of the unjustly condemned Protestant Calas. Houdon tried to capture Voltaire's physical appearance and psychological presence, but did not seek to idealize him. He made no attempt to mask the signs of age: the rings under his eyes, the wrinkles and deep folds on his cheeks, the impression of withered skin . . . But the portrait radiates with intelligence and mischief: the eyes twinkling under the bulging brow and the compressed lips suggest ironic wit. The Louvre's marble bust comes from the sale after the sculptor's death in 1828. In another version, Voltaire's jacket is swathed in draperies (Comédie-Française).
This bust shows the philosopher in contemporary clothing and wearing a wig, which is incidentally rather outmoded. It portrays a man rooted in his times, prepared to fight for his ideas, such as the rehabilitation of the unjustly condemned Protestant Calas. Houdon tried to capture Voltaire's physical appearance and psychological presence, but did not seek to idealize him. He made no attempt to mask the signs of age: the rings under his eyes, the wrinkles and deep folds on his cheeks, the impression of withered skin . . . But the portrait radiates with intelligence and mischief: the eyes twinkling under the bulging brow and the compressed lips suggest ironic wit. The Louvre's marble bust comes from the sale after the sculptor's death in 1828. In another version, Voltaire's jacket is swathed in draperies (Comédie-Française).
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Voltaire Bare-headed
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Voltaire Bare-headed
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Another type of bust uses the iconography initiated for Diderot. Bare-headed, with neither jacket nor drapery, with the torso cut off, he is shown in the manner of the ancient philosophers, giving an impression of timelessness. The old man's fragility is more apparent. The wrinkles on s face are deeper. There are no clothes to hide the stringy tendons in his neck. His bald head suggests a skull. But his eyes and lips have lost none of their vivacity: behind the domed forehead, the philosopher's mind is just as sharp. The bust in the Louvre, a gift from Countess Biver, is of outstanding quality which proves it was executed by Houdon himself. The marble has been worked with great delicacy, particularly noticeable in the rendering of a few wisps of hair on his temples. The Louvre also has a lost-wax bronze cast of the same type of bust. A third type of bust, with the philosopher's scarf wrapped around his head, is derived from the seated statue of Voltaire sculpted for the Comédie Française (in situ). On the pedestal there are two low-relief masks symbolizing tragedy and comedy. Although Voltaire was represented by the greatest artists, painters or sculptors, Houdon's portrait dominates as the quintessential image not only of the writer but of the philosophic spirit of the 18th century.
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François-Marie Arouet, dit Voltaire, (Paris, 1694 - Paris, 1778) 1778 Bronze, fondu à la cire perdue H. : 0,35 m. ; L. : 0,20 m. ; P. : 0,21 m. Variante sans perruque ni indication de vêtement, ce buste fut découvert en 1871 par le sculpteur Adolphe-Victor Geoffroy-Dechaume (1816-1892), « dans les décombres d'un monument public » incendié lors de la Commune de Paris.
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François-Marie Arouet, dit Voltaire, (Paris, 1694 - Paris, 1778) 1778 Bronze, fondu à la cire perdue H. : 0,35 m. ; L. : 0,20 m. ; P. : 0,21 m. Variante sans perruque ni indication de vêtement, ce buste fut découvert en 1871 par le sculpteur Adolphe-Victor Geoffroy-Dechaume (1816-1892), « dans les décombres d'un monument public » incendié lors de la Commune de Paris.
François-Marie Arouet, '
dit Voltaire,
(Paris, 1694 - Paris, 1778) 1778 Bronze, fondu à la cire perdue H. : 0,35 m. ; L. : 0,20 m. ; P. : 0,21 m.
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Jean-Antoine HOUDON
'- Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828, Voltaire, (1694 - 1778) 1778,
-François-Marie Arouet, called Voltaire
French, 1780 Marble Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften Archiv
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Jean-Antoine HOUDON -
Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828 Voltaire,
'(1694 - 1778) 1778
-Jean-Antoine HOUDON, (1741-1828) Voltaire
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(François-Marie Arouet),
'known as; 1694-1778), writer 1778
-Thomas Jefferson
French (Paris), 1789,
Jean-Antoine Houdon, French, 1741–1828
54.5 cm (21 7/16 in.) Stone; marble
Signed: Signed and dated "houdon f 1789".
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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Thomas Jefferson French (Paris), 1789 Jean-Antoine Houdon, French, 1741–1828, 54.5 cm (21 7/16 in.) Stone; marble
Signed: Signed and dated "houdon f 1789".
Classification: Sculpture
The best-known likeness of the man who would be elected president in 1800, this bust captures the keen intelligence of the sitter and demonstrates Houdon's superb talent for characterization. In 1785 Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) succeeded Benjamin Franklin as American minister to France. Jefferson immersed himself in the artistic and cultural life of Paris, studying firsthand neoclassical architecture and actively collecting books, prints, and works of art. Houdon, described by Jefferson as "perhaps the foremost artist in the world," executed this startlingly lifelike bust in Paris shortly before Jefferson returned to the United States to assume the position of secretary of state.
Saravezza marble on gray and white marble base. Head turned slightly to right. Contemporary costume coat with standing collar, waistcoat with buttons, stock. Long hair tied at nape of neck; part of bow knot missing.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
George Nixon Black Fund, 1934 Accession number: 34.129
Provenance/Ownership History: Please note: The history of ownership is not definitive or comprehensive, as it is under constant review and revision by MFA curators and researchers. By the late 18th century, Count Antoine-Louis-Claude Destutt de Tracy (b. 1754- d. 1836), Château de Paray, Melun, France [see note 1]; 1839, by descent to Jacques Louis Leopold de Chateauvieux (d. 1868), Melun; 1868, by inheritance to his son, Ferdinand Le Clercq de Chateauvieux [see note 2]; 1916, by inheritance to his son, P. Le Clercq de Chateauvieux; 1928, sold by Le Clercq de Chateauvieux to Jean L. Souffrice, Neuilly-sur-Seine [see note 3]; 1934, sold by Souffrice, through the Marie Sterner Gallery, New York, to the MFA for $35,000. (Accession Date: April 5, 1934)
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George Washington (1732 - 1799) 1786 Terre cuite H. : 0,43 m. ; L. : 0,32 m. ; Pr. : 0,26 m.
Signed: Signed and dated "houdon f 1789".
Classification: Sculpture
The best-known likeness of the man who would be elected president in 1800, this bust captures the keen intelligence of the sitter and demonstrates Houdon's superb talent for characterization. In 1785 Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) succeeded Benjamin Franklin as American minister to France. Jefferson immersed himself in the artistic and cultural life of Paris, studying firsthand neoclassical architecture and actively collecting books, prints, and works of art. Houdon, described by Jefferson as "perhaps the foremost artist in the world," executed this startlingly lifelike bust in Paris shortly before Jefferson returned to the United States to assume the position of secretary of state.
Saravezza marble on gray and white marble base. Head turned slightly to right. Contemporary costume coat with standing collar, waistcoat with buttons, stock. Long hair tied at nape of neck; part of bow knot missing.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
George Nixon Black Fund, 1934 Accession number: 34.129
Provenance/Ownership History: Please note: The history of ownership is not definitive or comprehensive, as it is under constant review and revision by MFA curators and researchers. By the late 18th century, Count Antoine-Louis-Claude Destutt de Tracy (b. 1754- d. 1836), Château de Paray, Melun, France [see note 1]; 1839, by descent to Jacques Louis Leopold de Chateauvieux (d. 1868), Melun; 1868, by inheritance to his son, Ferdinand Le Clercq de Chateauvieux [see note 2]; 1916, by inheritance to his son, P. Le Clercq de Chateauvieux; 1928, sold by Le Clercq de Chateauvieux to Jean L. Souffrice, Neuilly-sur-Seine [see note 3]; 1934, sold by Souffrice, through the Marie Sterner Gallery, New York, to the MFA for $35,000. (Accession Date: April 5, 1934)
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Bust of John Paul Jones French (Paris), 1780 Jean-Antoine Houdon, French, 1741–1828
Paris, France Plaster
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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Paris, France Plaster
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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-Jean-Antoine Houdon, French, 1741–1828
Bust of John Paul Jones French (Paris), 1780 Jean-Antoine Houdon, French, 1741–1828, Paris, France Plaster
Provenance/Ownership History: 1786, probably given to Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, Charlottesville, VA by John Paul Jones. 1827, sold from Monticello to Joseph Coolidge [see note 1]; Jan 17 1828, deposited by Coolidge to the Boston Athenaeum [see note 2]. May 1903, Joseph/ Moses Kimball auction, sold to a second hand store; 1903, sold by the store to Charles H. Taylor, Boston (?) [see note 3]; June 22, 1910, lent by Taylor to the MFA; 1931, gift of Taylor to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 8, 1931)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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Bust of John Paul Jones French (Paris), 1780 Jean-Antoine Houdon, French, 1741–1828, Paris, France Plaster
Provenance/Ownership History: 1786, probably given to Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, Charlottesville, VA by John Paul Jones. 1827, sold from Monticello to Joseph Coolidge [see note 1]; Jan 17 1828, deposited by Coolidge to the Boston Athenaeum [see note 2]. May 1903, Joseph/ Moses Kimball auction, sold to a second hand store; 1903, sold by the store to Charles H. Taylor, Boston (?) [see note 3]; June 22, 1910, lent by Taylor to the MFA; 1931, gift of Taylor to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 8, 1931)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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George Washington (1732 - 1799) 1786 Terre cuite H. : 0,43 m. ; L. : 0,32 m. ; Pr. : 0,26 m.-
George Washington (1732 - 1799) 1786 Terre cuite H. : 0,43 m. ; L. : 0,32 m. ; Pr. : 0,26 m. Houdon exécuta en 1785 aux Etats-Unis un buste en terre cuite du général représenté dans une nudité héroïque (conservé à Mount-Vernon). L'oeuvre du Louvre, plus tardive, reprend la composition à l'antique du premier portrait, bien qu'ici Washington soit vêtu d'une tunique.
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Louis-Léopold Boilly French, 1803–4 Oil on canvas Ville de Cherbourg-Octeville, Musée d'Art Thomas Henry
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Houdon and America During the American Revolutionary War era, Houdon sculpted many prominent heroes of the fledgling republic. His statue of George Washington stands in the capitol building in Richmond, Virginia—a commission awarded at the recommendation of his friends Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Houdon's portrait of Jefferson was chosen in 1938 for the American nickel, still in circulation today.
BloggerMercuryAttachingWingsFface2v2.jpg)
Houdon's teacher Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, (1714-1785), Mercure attachant ses talonnières /
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Mercury Attaching his Wings
"All the text above here on this Post of J. A. Houdon is from the Getty Museum exhibition"
Hubert Gerhardt, -
sculptor, Munchen, Bavaria, Germany;
St Michael Slaying the Devil,
1588Bronze, larger than life-sizeMichaelskirche, Munich
In the centre of Marienplatz there is the Marien's column (Mariensäule). It counted as a zero to all distance measurements of Munich. It was put up 1632 under elector Maximilian I. in return for the fact that the Swede's king Gustav Adolf has spared Munich and Landshut during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). On top of the column of red marble there is a stately madonna, a work of the famous sculptor Hubert Gerhard. The madonna carries to the sign of her rule an imperial orb, a sceptre and a crown, she stands on a crescent with the Jesus's child in the arm.
Originally Hubert Gerhard had created the statue for the tomb Herzog Wilhelm V. in the church Michaelskirche. At the foot of the column four glyphs of unknown artists fight against the vices of the humanity: the dragon symbolises the hunger, the lion symbolises the war, the basilisk symbolises the plague and the snake symbolises the unbelief. The originals of these bronze figures are to be seen in the city museum.
Museums and Public Art Galleries:
Detroit Institute of Arts, MichiganHebeMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston Sculpture collection onlineCleveland Museum of Art, OhioSextus Tarquinius Threatening LucretiaCourtauld Institute of Art, London, UKPietaFrick Collection, New York CityTriton and Nereid, bronze, ca.1620Professional Tools:
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Hubert Gerhard in the Web Gallery of Art Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur (in German) Articles:
Grove Dictionary of Art Online (excerpt)Union List of Artist Names (Getty Museum) NEW!Reference sheet with basic information about the artist and pointers to other references.
Mariensäule - Marienplatz
as Minerva (at the Altar of Immortality),1761 Marble, height 100 cm,
height 180 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris
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George Washington (1732 - 1799) 1786 Terre cuite H. : 0,43 m. ; L. : 0,32 m. ; Pr. : 0,26 m. Houdon exécuta en 1785 aux Etats-Unis un buste en terre cuite du général représenté dans une nudité héroïque (conservé à Mount-Vernon). L'oeuvre du Louvre, plus tardive, reprend la composition à l'antique du premier portrait, bien qu'ici Washington soit vêtu d'une tunique.
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Benjamin Franklin
French, dated 1779 Marble Philadelphia Museum of Art. Purchased with a generous grant from The Barra Foundation, Inc., matched by contributions from the Henry P. McIlhenny Fund in memory of Frances P. McIlhenny, the Walter E. Stait Fund, the Fiske Kimball Fund, and with funds contributed by Mr. and Mrs. Jack M. Friedland, Hannah L. and J. Welles Henderson, Mr. and Mrs. E. Newbold Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Mark E. Rubenstein, Mr. and Mrs. John J. F. Sherrerd, the Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest, Leslie A. Miller and Richard B. Worley, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Nyheim, Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Fox, Stephanie S. Eglin, Maude de Schauensee, Mr. and Mrs. William T. Vogt, and with funds contributed by individual donors to the Fund for Franklin (1996-162-1)
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was a printer, writer, scientist, and statesman. His famous kite experiment, which demonstrated that lightning is an electrical discharge, brought him international acclaim. As a statesman, Franklin held a seat in the Pennsylvania Assembly. In 1776, he won financial aid from France for the American Revolution. He helped negotiate the peace treaty with Great Britain, signed in Paris in 1783.
French, dated 1779 Marble Philadelphia Museum of Art. Purchased with a generous grant from The Barra Foundation, Inc., matched by contributions from the Henry P. McIlhenny Fund in memory of Frances P. McIlhenny, the Walter E. Stait Fund, the Fiske Kimball Fund, and with funds contributed by Mr. and Mrs. Jack M. Friedland, Hannah L. and J. Welles Henderson, Mr. and Mrs. E. Newbold Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Mark E. Rubenstein, Mr. and Mrs. John J. F. Sherrerd, the Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest, Leslie A. Miller and Richard B. Worley, Mr. and Mrs. John A. Nyheim, Mr. and Mrs. Robert A. Fox, Stephanie S. Eglin, Maude de Schauensee, Mr. and Mrs. William T. Vogt, and with funds contributed by individual donors to the Fund for Franklin (1996-162-1)
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was a printer, writer, scientist, and statesman. His famous kite experiment, which demonstrated that lightning is an electrical discharge, brought him international acclaim. As a statesman, Franklin held a seat in the Pennsylvania Assembly. In 1776, he won financial aid from France for the American Revolution. He helped negotiate the peace treaty with Great Britain, signed in Paris in 1783.
-Louis-Léopold Boilly French, 1803–4 Oil on canvas Ville de Cherbourg-Octeville, Musée d'Art Thomas Henry
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Houdon and America During the American Revolutionary War era, Houdon sculpted many prominent heroes of the fledgling republic. His statue of George Washington stands in the capitol building in Richmond, Virginia—a commission awarded at the recommendation of his friends Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Houdon's portrait of Jefferson was chosen in 1938 for the American nickel, still in circulation today.
BloggerMercuryAttachingWingsFface2v2.jpg)
Houdon's teacher Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, (1714-1785), Mercure attachant ses talonnières /
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Mercury Attaching his Wings
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Pigalle's Mercury (approved in 1741) was executed for his admission to the Academy in 1744. The sculptor presented a significantly larger plaster model of this subject at the Salon of 1742, paired with a Venus; both statues were made in marble for the king, and presented in 1750 to Frederick II of Prussia.
Pigalle's Mercury (approved in 1741) was executed for his admission to the Academy in 1744. The sculptor presented a significantly larger plaster model of this subject at the Salon of 1742, paired with a Venus; both statues were made in marble for the king, and presented in 1750 to Frederick II of Prussia.
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A twisted position
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A twisted position
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Mercury, the messenger of the gods, is sitting on a rock, ready to leap up. He is attaching the winged sandals which, together with his petasus (winged cap), will enable him to take flight. The god's twisted position and the play of his limbs make the composition interesting to observe from every angle. Mercury is not looking at his talaria (winged sandals) as he attaches them, but his gesture is accentuated by the convergence of both arms and one leg. His crouched position, the upward slant of his limbs and shoulder line, and his face turned to scan the horizon, give an impression of dynamism — that Mercury is about to soar into the sky. The position of his left leg, with his weight on his toes, also suggests that the messenger god is ready for take-off. This pose was perhaps inspired by the Mercury and Argus by Jacob Jordaens (a 17th-century Flemish painter), popularized by engravings. But the play of diagonals and the multiple viewpoints afforded by sculpture in the round enabled Pigalle to add a vitality that transformed the figure of the god into an allegory of speed. Mercury's torso is a variation on the Belvedere Torso (in the Vatican); this antique marble fragment of a muscular seated figure has a strength that fascinated Michelangelo — and has continued to fascinate artists and art lovers. It was left incomplete, which was unusual for the 18th century, and thus became a metaphor for Time that destroys the creations of Genius. It symbolized sculpture, as it does in Jacques Buirette's 1663 reception piece, the bas-relief entitled The Union of Painting and Sculpture (in the Louvre).
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The Academy reception piece
'The Academy reception piece
When Pigalle returned to Paris in 1741 after a stay in Rome (1736–39), he presented his terracotta model of Mercury for approval by the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture; according to an anecdote, he had almost left the work as a pledge of payment for his accommodation when passing through Lyon. Instead of imposing another subject, the Academy asked him to transpose the model into marble for his admission piece, and he was accepted on 30 July 1744. Mercury was originally designed as an isolated figure, but in 1742, Pigalle added a matching piece: Venus Giving a Message, which illustrates an episode from the Golden Ass, a collection of tales by Latin author Apuleius (c. 125–170). In 1746, the Royal Administration commissioned Pigalle to produce a life-size marble sculpture of each figure; these works were completed in 1748, and presented by Louis XV to King Frederick II of Prussia for the park of the Sans-Souci castle near Berlin.
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An instant and lasting success
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An instant and lasting success
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The work was an instant success. In The Century of Louis XIV (1751), Voltaire compared it to the finest works of Greek antiquity. Many replicas were acquired by artists, and it featured in a number of paintings: the painter Chardin, a friend of Pigalle, used it to symbolize sculpture in his works The Drawing Lesson (1747, Vanas) and The Attributes of the Arts (1766, Minneapolis). A smaller version in biscuit porcelain was produced by the Sèvres manufactory as of 1770.
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Exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angelos; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris, and l'Etablissement public du musée et du domaine national de Versailles. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. - Below:
Overview
Crowding Houdon's studio are models of his sculptures, including Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, and Winter, all on view in the exhibition.
The portraits of Jean-Antoine Houdon (French, 1741–1828), capture the character of the men and women who defined the Enlightenment, a period of revolutionary political and social change in France and America. The Enlightenment challenged traditional beliefs about the world and led to extraordinary efforts to transform it. Houdon's genius lay in his ability to evoke these new ideas in three-dimensional media. His startlingly lifelike portraits of leading figures of the day—including Denis Diderot, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Louis XVI, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Napoleon—vividly recall the Enlightenment.
Born in Versailles in 1741, Houdon was educated in Paris and Rome under French royal sponsorship. His classical training included studies in ancient art and anatomy, in which he showed an unusual interest and talent. Houdon established his reputation with portrait busts that were lauded for their beauty and technical sophistication. During the tumultuous years leading up to the French Revolution, Houdon executed some of his finest, most compelling work. Although formal portraiture was his mainstay, Houdon was also recognized for the innovation, intimacy, and naturalism of his busts of children, and his sensual mythological and allegorical figures.
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Exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angelos; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris, and l'Etablissement public du musée et du domaine national de Versailles. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. - Below:
Overview
Crowding Houdon's studio are models of his sculptures, including Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, and Winter, all on view in the exhibition.
The portraits of Jean-Antoine Houdon (French, 1741–1828), capture the character of the men and women who defined the Enlightenment, a period of revolutionary political and social change in France and America. The Enlightenment challenged traditional beliefs about the world and led to extraordinary efforts to transform it. Houdon's genius lay in his ability to evoke these new ideas in three-dimensional media. His startlingly lifelike portraits of leading figures of the day—including Denis Diderot, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Louis XVI, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Napoleon—vividly recall the Enlightenment.
Born in Versailles in 1741, Houdon was educated in Paris and Rome under French royal sponsorship. His classical training included studies in ancient art and anatomy, in which he showed an unusual interest and talent. Houdon established his reputation with portrait busts that were lauded for their beauty and technical sophistication. During the tumultuous years leading up to the French Revolution, Houdon executed some of his finest, most compelling work. Although formal portraiture was his mainstay, Houdon was also recognized for the innovation, intimacy, and naturalism of his busts of children, and his sensual mythological and allegorical figures.
Houdon's teacher - Jean-Baptiste Pigalle,
'(1714-1785), Mercury Attaching his Wings,
'1744 , Louvre
Jean 
Antoine Houdon,
- France, b. 1741 Versailles - d. 1828 Paris, sculptor,
Diana,
Plaster, (LifeSize sculpture), Gotha, Thuringia, Germany
Jean-Antoine HOUDON - Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828,
Diane chasseresse, 1790
Diana - scandalous nudity
- France, b. 1741 Versailles - d. 1828 Paris, sculptor,
Diana,
Plaster, (LifeSize sculpture), Gotha, Thuringia, Germany
Jean-Antoine HOUDON - Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828,
Diane chasseresse, 1790
Diana - scandalous nudity
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Houdon presented a life-size plaster of Diana in his studio during the 1777 Salon. The finished sculpture was to be executed in marble (Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon) for Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Gotha, as compensation for a commission lost by the sculptor. The bronze version is now in the Louvre. The sculpture was acclaimed for its beauty worthy of classical statuary. The impression of swiftness is accentuated by Diana's slim figure. Yet her unabashed beauty caused a scandal. Diana was habitually portrayed in a short tunic belted at the waist, in the manner of the often-copied Artemis the Huntress (Louvre), a classical marble acquired by Francis I. The goddess's nudity was deemed acceptable only when she was depicted bathing. The same year as Houdon, Christophe Allegrain showed - also outside the Salon - his buxom Diana, surpised by the huntsman Actaeon while bathing (Louvre). Yet during the Renaissance, the goddess of hunting was often represented in the nude. The Diana the Huntress of the School of Fontainebleau (Louvre) and the large marble group from the Château d'Anet (Louvre) - in which the nude Diana, accompanied by her dogs, reclines, her arms around a stag - are two well-known examples.
Houdon presented a life-size plaster of Diana in his studio during the 1777 Salon. The finished sculpture was to be executed in marble (Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon) for Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Gotha, as compensation for a commission lost by the sculptor. The bronze version is now in the Louvre. The sculpture was acclaimed for its beauty worthy of classical statuary. The impression of swiftness is accentuated by Diana's slim figure. Yet her unabashed beauty caused a scandal. Diana was habitually portrayed in a short tunic belted at the waist, in the manner of the often-copied Artemis the Huntress (Louvre), a classical marble acquired by Francis I. The goddess's nudity was deemed acceptable only when she was depicted bathing. The same year as Houdon, Christophe Allegrain showed - also outside the Salon - his buxom Diana, surpised by the huntsman Actaeon while bathing (Louvre). Yet during the Renaissance, the goddess of hunting was often represented in the nude. The Diana the Huntress of the School of Fontainebleau (Louvre) and the large marble group from the Château d'Anet (Louvre) - in which the nude Diana, accompanied by her dogs, reclines, her arms around a stag - are two well-known examples.
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Antiquity revisited
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Antiquity revisited
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Houdon's wonderfully reconciles the aesthetics of antiquity and the Renaissance. From antiquity, Diana has retained her triumphant nudity, whose elegance and distinction inspires respect rather than temerity. The goddess's noble, even haughty bearing; serene, idealized face reflecting no emotion; and distant gaze render her impersonal and inaccessible. The elongation of the female body, firm anatomy, and linear purity belong to the Renaissance of the School of Fontainebleau. Her slender body, leaning slightly forward on one foot, gives the statue an ethereal and dynamic allure and affords multiple points of view. It evokes the daring balance of the flying Mercury by Giovanni da Bologna (1529-1608), a Florentine sculptor of Flemish origin who exercized considerable influence on European sculptors. But Houdon's Diana is also a full-bodied creature of the flesh. Her naked pubis, considered too realistic, was filled in and flattened in 1829.
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A technical tour-de-force
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A technical tour-de-force
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The glory of the great masters of French sculpture (Girardon, Coysevox, Lemoyne, Bouchardon, Pigalle) rests on their bronze statuary, but they seem to have known little about the technical aspects of casting. Houdon, who had a passion for the art of casting, cast two large bronzes of Diana himself at the Roule foundry in Paris: an eight-piece one in 1782 (San Marino, California) and a five-piece one in 1790 (the statue now in the Louvre was purchased at auction by Charles X after the sculptor's death in 1828).
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Jean-Antoine Houdon studied in Paris under such sculptors as Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne and Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. As a winner of the Prix de Rome, he worked in Rome from 1764 to 1768. There he was influenced by ancient artifacts, including those recently unearthed in Herculaneum and Pompeii, and works of Renaissance masters, especially Michelangelo. He created his important anatomical study of a standing man, known as the Écorché, or "flayed" figure, which later was replicated and used in most art schools. The Écorché displays a continuing characteristic of his art: classicism combined with a merciless realism. Skilled in marble, bronze, plaster, and clay, Houdon became a member of the Académie Royale in 1771 and a professor in 1778. He made his reputation with his portraits, producing a veritable "Who's Who" of his era's royalty, artists, and philosophers. Patrons appreciated his ability to give marble the effect of living flesh as well as his knack for capturing his sitter's personality. In 1785, at the request of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, Houdon crossed the Atlantic. He spent fourteen days at Mount Vernon executing a statue of George Washington. After narrowly escaping imprisonment during the French Revolution, Houdon returned to favor under Napoleon Bonaparte and finally retired in 1814.
Jean Antoine Houdon, - France, b. 1741 Versailles - d. 1828 Paris, sculptor, Diana, Plaster, (LifeSize sculpture), Gotha, Thuringia, Germany
Jean-Antoine HOUDON - Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828 Diane chasseresse 1790
Diana, Plaster, (LifeSize sculpture), Gotha, Thuringia, Germany
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Jean-Antoine Houdon studied in Paris under such sculptors as Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne and Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. As a winner of the Prix de Rome, he worked in Rome from 1764 to 1768. There he was influenced by ancient artifacts, including those recently unearthed in Herculaneum and Pompeii, and works of Renaissance masters, especially Michelangelo. He created his important anatomical study of a standing man, known as the Écorché, or "flayed" figure, which later was replicated and used in most art schools. The Écorché displays a continuing characteristic of his art: classicism combined with a merciless realism. Skilled in marble, bronze, plaster, and clay, Houdon became a member of the Académie Royale in 1771 and a professor in 1778. He made his reputation with his portraits, producing a veritable "Who's Who" of his era's royalty, artists, and philosophers. Patrons appreciated his ability to give marble the effect of living flesh as well as his knack for capturing his sitter's personality. In 1785, at the request of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, Houdon crossed the Atlantic. He spent fourteen days at Mount Vernon executing a statue of George Washington. After narrowly escaping imprisonment during the French Revolution, Houdon returned to favor under Napoleon Bonaparte and finally retired in 1814.
Jean Antoine Houdon, - France, b. 1741 Versailles - d. 1828 Paris, sculptor, Diana, Plaster, (LifeSize sculpture), Gotha, Thuringia, Germany
Jean-Antoine HOUDON - Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828 Diane chasseresse 1790
Diana, Plaster, (LifeSize sculpture), Gotha, Thuringia, Germany
"All the text above here on this Post of J. A. Houdon is from the Getty Museum exhibition"
Hubert Gerhardt, -
sculptor, Munchen, Bavaria, Germany;
St Michael Slaying the Devil,
1588Bronze, larger than life-sizeMichaelskirche, Munich
In the centre of Marienplatz there is the Marien's column (Mariensäule). It counted as a zero to all distance measurements of Munich. It was put up 1632 under elector Maximilian I. in return for the fact that the Swede's king Gustav Adolf has spared Munich and Landshut during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). On top of the column of red marble there is a stately madonna, a work of the famous sculptor Hubert Gerhard. The madonna carries to the sign of her rule an imperial orb, a sceptre and a crown, she stands on a crescent with the Jesus's child in the arm.
Originally Hubert Gerhard had created the statue for the tomb Herzog Wilhelm V. in the church Michaelskirche. At the foot of the column four glyphs of unknown artists fight against the vices of the humanity: the dragon symbolises the hunger, the lion symbolises the war, the basilisk symbolises the plague and the snake symbolises the unbelief. The originals of these bronze figures are to be seen in the city museum.
U-Bahn: U3, U6 bis MarienplatzS-Bahn: S1 - S8 to Marienplatz
Biography
The artist, born between 1540 and 1550 at Hertogenbosch, belongs to the generation of Dutch sculptors who introduced into the German courts and international style that, fused with traditional local elements, paved the way for the great flowering of Baroque art.
Gerhard worked in the workshop of Giambologna in Florence until 1581 when he was called by Hans Fugger to southern Germany to execute the first Italian style fountain at the north of the Alps in the garden of his castle at Kirchheim. After a period of work in Augsburg, where he executed the Augustus fountain for the city (1594), Gerhard joined the court of the Dukes of Bavaria. Under the direction of Friedrich Sustris, like Gerhard a native of the Low Countries, he participated in the program of decoration for the Jesuit college church of St Michael in Munich.
Biography
The artist, born between 1540 and 1550 at Hertogenbosch, belongs to the generation of Dutch sculptors who introduced into the German courts and international style that, fused with traditional local elements, paved the way for the great flowering of Baroque art.
Gerhard worked in the workshop of Giambologna in Florence until 1581 when he was called by Hans Fugger to southern Germany to execute the first Italian style fountain at the north of the Alps in the garden of his castle at Kirchheim. After a period of work in Augsburg, where he executed the Augustus fountain for the city (1594), Gerhard joined the court of the Dukes of Bavaria. Under the direction of Friedrich Sustris, like Gerhard a native of the Low Countries, he participated in the program of decoration for the Jesuit college church of St Michael in Munich.
The High Altar
The former Jesuit church of St Michael in Munich is the largest Renaissance church north of the Alps. It was built by Duke William V between 1583 and 1597 as a spiritual center for the Counter Reformation.
It was erected in two stages. In the first stage (1583-88) the church was built by the model of Il Gesù in Rome and given a barrel-vaulted roof by an unknown architect, the vault being the largest in the world apart from that of St Peter's in Rome, spanning freely more than 20 meters. When the church was built there were doubts about the stability of the vaulting. But it was the tower that collapsed in 1590, destroying the just completed choir. Duke William V took it as a bad omen and so planned to build a much larger church. Therefore, in a second phase of construction lasting until 1597, Friedrich Sustris built on to the undamaged nave a new choir and a transept not envisaged in the original plan. The facade is impressive and contains several statues of members of the Wittelsbach dynasty. Hubert Gerhard's large bronze statue between the two entrances shows the Archangel Michael fighting for the Faith and killing the Evil in the shape of a dragon.
The church contains the tomb of Eugène de Beauharnais, which was erected by Bertel Thorwaldsen in 1830. Eugène was the son of Josephine de Beauharnais, Napoleon's wife and her first husband, general Alexandre de Beauharnais. He married a daughter of king Maximilian I of Bavaria in 1806 and was created Duke of Leuchtenberg in 1817. In the right transept is a cross monument of Giovanni da Bologna. The crypt contains among others the tombs of these members of the Wittelsbach dynasty:
Duke William V
Elector Maximilian I
King Ludwig II
King Otto
Having suffered severe damage during the Second World War the church was restored in 1946-48. Finally between 1980 and 1983, the stucco-work being reinstated.Gerhard worked in the workshop of Giambologna in Florence until 1581 when he was called by Hans Fugger to southern Germany to execute the first Italian style fountain at the north of the Alps in the garden of his castle at Kirchheim. After a period of work in Augsburg, where he executed the Augustus fountain for the city (1594), Gerhard joined the court of the Dukes of Bavaria. Under the direction of Friedrich Sustris, like Gerhard a native of the Low Countries, he participated in the program of decoration for the Jesuit college church of St Michael in Munich.
The former Jesuit church of St Michael in Munich is the largest Renaissance church north of the Alps. It was built by Duke William V between 1583 and 1597 as a spiritual center for the Counter Reformation.
It was erected in two stages. In the first stage (1583-88) the church was built by the model of Il Gesù in Rome and given a barrel-vaulted roof by an unknown architect, the vault being the largest in the world apart from that of St Peter's in Rome, spanning freely more than 20 meters. When the church was built there were doubts about the stability of the vaulting. But it was the tower that collapsed in 1590, destroying the just completed choir. Duke William V took it as a bad omen and so planned to build a much larger church. Therefore, in a second phase of construction lasting until 1597, Friedrich Sustris built on to the undamaged nave a new choir and a transept not envisaged in the original plan. The facade is impressive and contains several statues of members of the Wittelsbach dynasty. Hubert Gerhard's large bronze statue between the two entrances shows the Archangel Michael fighting for the Faith and killing the Evil in the shape of a dragon.
The church contains the tomb of Eugène de Beauharnais, which was erected by Bertel Thorwaldsen in 1830. Eugène was the son of Josephine de Beauharnais, Napoleon's wife and her first husband, general Alexandre de Beauharnais. He married a daughter of king Maximilian I of Bavaria in 1806 and was created Duke of Leuchtenberg in 1817. In the right transept is a cross monument of Giovanni da Bologna. The crypt contains among others the tombs of these members of the Wittelsbach dynasty:
Duke William V
Elector Maximilian I
King Ludwig II
King Otto
Having suffered severe damage during the Second World War the church was restored in 1946-48. Finally between 1980 and 1983, the stucco-work being reinstated.Gerhard worked in the workshop of Giambologna in Florence until 1581 when he was called by Hans Fugger to southern Germany to execute the first Italian style fountain at the north of the Alps in the garden of his castle at Kirchheim. After a period of work in Augsburg, where he executed the Augustus fountain for the city (1594), Gerhard joined the court of the Dukes of Bavaria. Under the direction of Friedrich Sustris, like Gerhard a native of the Low Countries, he participated in the program of decoration for the Jesuit college church of St Michael in Munich.
Hubert Gerhardt, -sculptor, Munchen, Bavaria, Germany; St Michael Slaying the Devil, 1588Bronze, larger than life-sizeMichaelskirche, Munich
Museums and Public Art Galleries:
Detroit Institute of Arts, MichiganHebeMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston Sculpture collection onlineCleveland Museum of Art, OhioSextus Tarquinius Threatening LucretiaCourtauld Institute of Art, London, UKPietaFrick Collection, New York CityTriton and Nereid, bronze, ca.1620Professional Tools:
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Mariensäule - Marienplatz
Hubert Gerhardt, Crucifiction, sculptor, Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany
Pajou, Jacques-Augustin, 1759
The Princess of Hesse-Homburg
The Princess of Hesse-Homburg
as Minerva (at the Altar of Immortality),1761 Marble, height 100 cm,
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg -
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Augustin Pajou
Psyche Abandoned, 1790 Marble,
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Augustin Pajou
Psyche Abandoned, 1790 Marble,
height 180 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris
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Leopold Doel, - "Crouching Athena Figure",
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sculptor, Gotha,Thuringia, Germany
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sculptor, Gotha,Thuringia, Germany
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Ferdinand von Miller,-sculptor, Bayerisches 
Armeedenkmal an der Feldherren,
Armeedenkmal an der Feldherren, Munchen,Bavaria,Germany
Ferdinand von Miller,-sculptor, , (* 18th October In 1813 in Fürstenfeldbruck; † 11th February In 1887 in Munich).
Miller worked in the royal ore foundry at first under his uncle as an assistant. Fast Stiglmaier recognized the talent of its nephew and made possible for the talented boy of attendance of the academy of arts ( Kunstakademie in München ) in Munich and Paris, where he made acquaintance with Alexander of Humboldt. This told it by a new project king of Ludwig I., with that a survive-large figure, which should be poured „Bavaria “. Miller returned to Munich, transferred the royal ore foundry to follow-up of its uncle as a first supervisor and worked from now on on the project „Bavaria “. It needed and processed whole eight years for the 15 meters high head of the figure 87,360 kg ore. The gigantic work was finally revealed 1850 solemnly. 1878 it acquired the ore foundry of the Bavarian state.
The general's hall whose architectural model is the " loggia dei Lanzi " in Florence was established in 1841 to 1844 by order king Ludwigs I. of Bavaria according to drafts by Friedrich von Gärtner. With the construction Ludwig I. of the Bavarian army and her victorious general wanted to put a monument.
The bronze statues of count Tilly and prince Wrede were poured according to draft by Ludwig von Schwanthaler from melted cannons. The "army monument" in the middle of the hall let in 1892 prince's regent Luitpold put up. This monumental bronze group of Ferdinand von Miller the younger reminds in the German French war in 1870/71. Wilhelm Ruemann created the marble lions to sides of the stair rising in 1905.
; http://www.muenchen.citysam.de/muenchen-foto/2/bayern.htm
Die Feldherrnhalle, deren architektonisches Vorbild die "Loggia dei Lanzi" in Florenz ist, wurde 1841 bis 1844 im Auftrag König Ludwigs I. von Bayern nach Entwürfen von Friedrich von Gärtner errichtet. Mit dem Bau wollte Ludwig I. der bayerischen Armee und ihren siegreichen Feldherren ein Denkmal setzen.
Die Bronzestandbilder von Graf Tilly und Fürst Wrede wurden nach Entwurf von Ludwig von Schwanthaler aus eingeschmolzenen Kanonen gegossen. Das "Armeedenkmal" in der Mitte der Halle ließ 1892 Prinzregent Luitpold aufstellen. Diese monumentale Bronzegruppe von Ferdinand von Miller der Jüngere erinnert an den den Deutsch-Französischen Krieg 1870/71. Die Marmorlöwen zu Seiten des Treppenaufgangs schuf Wilhelm Ruemann 1905.
Frederich Wilhelm Eugen Doel - sculptor, Vielsdorf, Thuringia 1750 - Gotha, Thuringia, 1816, Germany, - "Minerva handing Pegasus over to Bellerphon", Marble Reief - Gotha
Ferdinand von Miller,-sculptor, , (* 18th October In 1813 in Fürstenfeldbruck; † 11th February In 1887 in Munich).
Miller worked in the royal ore foundry at first under his uncle as an assistant. Fast Stiglmaier recognized the talent of its nephew and made possible for the talented boy of attendance of the academy of arts ( Kunstakademie in München ) in Munich and Paris, where he made acquaintance with Alexander of Humboldt. This told it by a new project king of Ludwig I., with that a survive-large figure, which should be poured „Bavaria “. Miller returned to Munich, transferred the royal ore foundry to follow-up of its uncle as a first supervisor and worked from now on on the project „Bavaria “. It needed and processed whole eight years for the 15 meters high head of the figure 87,360 kg ore. The gigantic work was finally revealed 1850 solemnly. 1878 it acquired the ore foundry of the Bavarian state.
The general's hall whose architectural model is the " loggia dei Lanzi " in Florence was established in 1841 to 1844 by order king Ludwigs I. of Bavaria according to drafts by Friedrich von Gärtner. With the construction Ludwig I. of the Bavarian army and her victorious general wanted to put a monument.
The bronze statues of count Tilly and prince Wrede were poured according to draft by Ludwig von Schwanthaler from melted cannons. The "army monument" in the middle of the hall let in 1892 prince's regent Luitpold put up. This monumental bronze group of Ferdinand von Miller the younger reminds in the German French war in 1870/71. Wilhelm Ruemann created the marble lions to sides of the stair rising in 1905.
; http://www.muenchen.citysam.de/muenchen-foto/2/bayern.htm
Die Feldherrnhalle, deren architektonisches Vorbild die "Loggia dei Lanzi" in Florenz ist, wurde 1841 bis 1844 im Auftrag König Ludwigs I. von Bayern nach Entwürfen von Friedrich von Gärtner errichtet. Mit dem Bau wollte Ludwig I. der bayerischen Armee und ihren siegreichen Feldherren ein Denkmal setzen.
Die Bronzestandbilder von Graf Tilly und Fürst Wrede wurden nach Entwurf von Ludwig von Schwanthaler aus eingeschmolzenen Kanonen gegossen. Das "Armeedenkmal" in der Mitte der Halle ließ 1892 Prinzregent Luitpold aufstellen. Diese monumentale Bronzegruppe von Ferdinand von Miller der Jüngere erinnert an den den Deutsch-Französischen Krieg 1870/71. Die Marmorlöwen zu Seiten des Treppenaufgangs schuf Wilhelm Ruemann 1905.
Frederich Wilhelm Eugen Doel - sculptor, Vielsdorf, Thuringia 1750 - Gotha, Thuringia, 1816, Germany, - "Minerva handing Pegasus over to Bellerphon", Marble Reief - Gotha
FOLLOWING Frederich Wilhelm Eugen Doell, - "Johann Joachim Winckelmann" Bronze bust, poured in 1777/78 from Louis Valadier to 
Doells marble bust, H 48.2 cms, fas 446
Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768) lived since 1755 he lived Rome where a scholarship of the Dresden health resort prince allowed to him an independent scholar's life. Later he became a librarian in the service of the cardinal Archinto and he reached in narrow touch with the Roman scholar's world. After the death Archintos he began in 1759 as a librarian with the cardinal Alessandro Albani, the biggest antique collector in Rome in whose services he remained up to his death. In April, 1763 nightmare aniseed the office of an upper supervisor of all antiquities in and around Rome was transmitted to him by the mediation. In spring, 1768 he began a long planned trip to Germany which he exited, however, already in Regensburg and returned over Vienna to Italy. In Trieste he fell victim to a murder with robbery. Today Winckelmann becomes as‚ father ’ of the classical archeology designated. On many own preparations falling back he completed in 1764 the " history of the art of the antiquity “. On this occasion, for the first time he developed a sequence of style epochs of the Greek and Roman art which was won immediately from the view by original plants. The Roman collections and also the discoveries in Pompeji and Herculaneum offered him a fullness of material which he described, sorted and under self-created artistic possible specifications valued.
Doells marble bust, H 48.2 cms, fas 446Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768) lived since 1755 he lived Rome where a scholarship of the Dresden health resort prince allowed to him an independent scholar's life. Later he became a librarian in the service of the cardinal Archinto and he reached in narrow touch with the Roman scholar's world. After the death Archintos he began in 1759 as a librarian with the cardinal Alessandro Albani, the biggest antique collector in Rome in whose services he remained up to his death. In April, 1763 nightmare aniseed the office of an upper supervisor of all antiquities in and around Rome was transmitted to him by the mediation. In spring, 1768 he began a long planned trip to Germany which he exited, however, already in Regensburg and returned over Vienna to Italy. In Trieste he fell victim to a murder with robbery. Today Winckelmann becomes as‚ father ’ of the classical archeology designated. On many own preparations falling back he completed in 1764 the " history of the art of the antiquity “. On this occasion, for the first time he developed a sequence of style epochs of the Greek and Roman art which was won immediately from the view by original plants. The Roman collections and also the discoveries in Pompeji and Herculaneum offered him a fullness of material which he described, sorted and under self-created artistic possible specifications valued.
