1 / 5

download image
This image is in the public domain. You can copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. Learn more about our image policies.

Jean-Antoine Houdon

Alexandre Brongniart, 1777

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 55

Medium

marble

Dimensions

overall: 39.2 x 28.7 x 19 cm (15 7/16 x 11 5/16 x 7 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.123

Artists / Makers

Jean-Antoine Houdon (artist) French, 1741 - 1828

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

on back on bottom edge: A. HOUDON, F. AN. 1777

Provenance

By inheritance to the sitter's great-nephew, Baron Jérome Pichon; (his sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 29 March-10 April 1897, no. 1009); Joseph Bardac, Paris;[1] (Galerie Seligmann, Paris); sold 21 February 1911 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[2] gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] According to German Seligman, Merchants of Art: 1880-1960, Eighty Years of Professional Collecting, New York, 1961: 13, it was Sigismond Bardac who sold the busts to his father, Jacques Seligmann. However, according to René Gimpel, Diary of an Art Dealer, New York, 1966: 7-8, it was Joseph Bardac, Sigismond's brother, who owned both the marbles of the Brongniart children and the terracottas; Gimpel sold the terracottas to Widener.

[2] See notes of Charles Seymour, Jr., about busts by Houdon in the NGA collection, and the letter of 17 January 1911 from Joseph Bardac to Jacques Seligmann, in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Bardac, Joseph
Drouot, Hôtel
Pichon, Jérome, Baron
Seligmann, Galerie
Widener, Joseph E.
Widener, Peter Arrell Brown

Exhibition History

1935: French Painting and Sculpture of the XVIII Century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1935-1936, no. 104, repro.

1974: Nineteenth-Century Sculpture, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1974, unnumbered checklist.

1996: Obras Maestras de la National Gallery of Art de Washington, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, 1996-1997, unnumbered catalogue, 92-93, color repro.

1997: The Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory: Alexandre Brongniart and the Triumph of Art and Industry, 1800-1847, The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, New York, 1997-1998, not in cat., mentioned 25-26.

2003: Exhibition of children's portraits held in conjunction with Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828): Sculptor of the Enlightenment, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2003-2004, no cat.

Bibliography

1870: Liepmannssohn and Dufour, eds. Collection des livrets des anciennes expositions depuis 1673 jusqu'en 1800: Exposition de 1777. Paris, 1870: 44-45.

1919: Giacometti, Georges. Le statuaire Jean-Antoine Houdon: et son epoque (1741-1828) 3 vols. Paris, 1919:2: 15.

1928: Vitry, Paul. "L'éxposition du centenaire de Houdon à Versailles." La Revue de l'art ancien et moderne 53 (1928): 57-70.

1931: Maillard, Elisa. Houdon. Paris, 1931: 28-29. repro. 16.

1935: Preston, Remington. "French Painting and Sculpture of the XVIII Century." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 30 (1935): 206-215.

1942: Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 8, as Alexandre Brongniard as a Boy.

1948: Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 139, repro., as Alexandre Brongniard.

1949: Seymour, Charles. Masterpieces of Sculpture from the National Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1949: 183, note 52, repro. 160-162.

1957: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 94 [possibly 1942.9.125].

1961: Seligman, Germain. Merchants of Art: 1880-1960, Eighty Years of Professional Collecting. New York, 1961: 13, repro. pl. 21.

1964: Réau, Louis. Houdon: Sa vie et son oeuvre. Paris, 1964: 26-27, 95, 412-413, no. 92, fig. 43.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 158.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 140, repro.

1973: Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 90, 95 repro.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 645, no. 1019, repro., as Alexandre Brongniard.

1993: Sporre, Dennis J. The Creative Impulse: An Introduction to the Arts. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1993: 359, repro. 360.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 109, repro.

1999: Norman Herz, Katherine A. Holbrow and Shelley G. Sturman. "Marble Sculture in the National Gallery of Art: a Provenance Study." In Max Schvoerer, ed. Archéomatériaux: marbres et autres roches: ASMOSIA IV, Bordeaux, France 9-13 october 1995: actes de la IVème Conférence international de l’Association pour l’étude des marbres et autres roches utilizes dans le passé. Talence, 1999: 101-110.