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Home>The French Sculpture Project: Works Undergoing Treatment

The French Sculpture Project: Works Undergoing Treatment

Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert, Painting and Sculpture, 1774/1778, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.110
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Clodion, Poetry and Music, c. 1774/1778, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.98
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Benoît Massou, Anselme Flamen, Nicolas Rebillé, A Garden Allegory: The Dew and Zephyr Cultivating Flowers, 1683/1732, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.106
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Carved from white marble, a young woman holds a short spear by one side and looks down toward a dog standing by her other side in this free-standing sculpture. Her body faces us in this photograph, and her head is tipped forward and to our right. She has a straight, delicate nose, and her thin lips are parted, possibly in a slight smile. Her wavy hair is held back under a band with an ornament on the crown, and a long curl falls behind one shoulder. Her knee-length garment exposes one firm breast and half of the other. The drapery clings tightly to her body and legs so the folds accentuate her curves. A longer garment falls from her waist, behind her legs, to pool at her sandaled feet. She stands with her weight mostly on her left leg, to our right, and the other knee bent. She holds the shaft of the spear with her right hand, to our left. Her other arm is drawn across her body at waist level. With that hand, she loosely holds the dog’s leash, which then falls across her thighs to the dog, sitting at her feet to our right. The short haired, thin, muscular hound is seated so its chest squares toward us. It twists its head up to look at the woman, its nose pressed along her leg. Its mouth is open, and the tongue curls out over sharp teeth. The dog wears a snug, buckled collar. The woman and dog stand on a square platform of white marble resting on a slab veined with charcoal gray and black, against a smoke-gray wall.
Jean-Louis Lemoyne, A Companion of Diana, 1710-1724, marble, Widener Collection, 1942.9.133
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A woman carved from cream-white marble stands holding an open book to which she points in this free-standing sculpture. In this photograph, her body faces us but her head turns to our right. She has a long nose, small mouth, and rounded chin. Her wavy, upswept hair is topped by a semi-circular headdress. Her voluminous gown clings to her torso, leaving one breast exposed. The fabric falls in deep folds around her legs and sandalled feet. Her left shoulder, on our right, is bare. A band crosses her chest from that shoulder to her waist. She holds the tall book in her right hand, on our left, braced against that hip. Her other hand points to the words inscribed in Latin on its pages. It reads, “CALLIOPE REGI NA,HOMINVM, DIVVMQVE VO LVPTAS CARMINIS HE ROI NVMERIS FVLGENTIA SIGNIS AGMINA, BEL LANTVMQVE ANIMOS, ET P RAELIA CAN TO, INCLYTAQVE AETERNAE COMMI TO. NOMINA FAMAE.” She stands on a square base supported on a fawn-brown, veined marble plinth. The background behind her is nickel gray.
Augustin Pajou, Calliope, c. 1763, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.107
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Barthélemy Prieur, Justice, 1610, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.86
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