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Jean-Antoine Houdon

Voltaire, 1778

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 53

Medium

marble

Dimensions

overall: 52.7 x 45.5 x 33.3 cm (20 3/4 x 17 15/16 x 13 1/8 in.)
gross weight: 156 lb. (70.761 kg)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.127

Artists / Makers

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

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

on back, in center: AROUET DE VOLTAIRE, / NE A PARIS EN 1694, ET MORT EN 1778.; on truncated right arm: HOUDON, F. 1778.

Provenance

Executed for the Lamorinière family, France; taken by them to England 1870/1871 during the Franco-Prussian War; consigned to (anonymous dealer, London); sold to Alfred Morrison [1821-1897], London and Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire;[1] (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 10 February 1900, no. 108); (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[2] sold 8 November 1901 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[3] inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] This early provenance was given in a letter of 12 Februry 1900 to Duveen Brothers from the dealer who sold the sculpture to Morrison. A typed transcription of the letter, annotated "signature illegible," came to NGA with the Widener collection records and is in NGA curatorial files.

[2] This sale, which included four sculptures from Morrison's collection, was kindly brought to the NGA's attention by Dr. Diana Kostyrko (e-mail of 28 August 2008, in NGA curatorial files). The annotated copy of the sales catalogue in the Knoedler Microfiche (British Sales) gives Duveen as the buyer.

[3] The date of this sale is in the Widener card file, in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Lamorinière
Morrison, Alfred
Widener, Joseph E.
Widener, Peter Arrell Brown

Exhibition History

1976: The Eye of Thomas Jefferson, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1976, no. 334.

Bibliography

1919: Giacometti, Georges. Le statuaire Jean-Antoine Houdon: et son époque (1741-1828). 3 vols. Paris, 1919: 2:359.

1935: Widener, Peter A. B. Inventory of the objets d'art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Penna., estate of the late P. A. B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 19.

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

1948: Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 137, repro.

1959: National Gallery of Art. Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. Reprint. Washington, DC, 1959: 137, repro.

1964: Réau, Louis. Houdon: Sa vie et son oeuvre. Paris, 1964: 44, no. 202.

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.

1993: The American Heritage College Dictionary. 3rd ed., s.v. "Voltaire." Boston and New York, 1993: repro. 1513.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 110, 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.

2006: Scherf, Guilhem. Houdon 1741-1828: Statues, portraits, sculptés... Paris, 2006: 76.