Jean-Antoine Houdon

Jean-Antoine Houdon studied at Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. Pierre Philippe Thomire is recorded as having studied under Jean-Antoine Houdon. The recorded working language is French. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Places of work recorded in the authority are Rome and Paris. Works named in the authority record are George Washington, Winter and Saint John the Baptist. Work by Jean-Antoine Houdon is recorded in the collections of Museo del Prado, Art Museum of Estonia, Art Institute of Chicago, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and J. Paul Getty Museum. Distinctions recorded are Prix de Rome and Knight of the Legion of Honour.

• Name — Jean-Antoine Houdon • Born — 20 March 1741 • Birthplace — Versailles, France • Died — 15 July 1828 • Place of death — Paris, France • Spouse — Marie-Ange-Cecile Langlois • Field — Portrait sculpture • Training — Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture • Works — Statue of George Washington • Awards — Prix de Rome

• Illustration — The Studio of Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1804, by Louis-Léopold Boilly, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Houdon was born in Versailles, on 20 March 1741. In 1752, he entered the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, where he studied with René-Michel Slodtz, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, and Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. From 1761 to 1764, he studied at the École royale des élèves protégés. Houdon won the Prix de Rome in 1761, but was not greatly influenced by ancient and Renaissance art in Rome. His stay in the city is marked by two characteristic and important productions: the superb écorché (1767), an anatomical model which has served as a guide to all artists since his day, and the statue of Saint Bruno in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome. After four years in Italy, Houdon returned to Paris. He submitted Morpheus to the Salon of 1771. He developed his practise of portrait busts. He became a member of the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in 1771, and a professor in 1778. In 1778, he modeled Voltaire, producing a portrait bust with wig for the Comédie-Française; one for the Palace of Versailles, and one for Catherine the Great. In 1778, he joined the masonic lodge Les Neuf Sœurs, where he later met Benjamin Franklin, and John Paul Jones. For Salon of 1781, he submitted a Diana which was refused without drapery. Houdon's portrait sculpture of Washington was the result of a specific invitation by Benjamin Franklin to cross the Atlantic in 1785, specifically to visit Mount Vernon, so that Washington could model for him. Washington sat for wet clay life models and a plaster life mask. These models served for many commissions of Washington, including the standing figure commissioned by the Virginia General Assembly, for the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond. Numerous variations of the Washington bust were produced, portraying him variously as a general in uniform, in the classical manner showing chest musculature, and as Roman Consul Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus clad in a toga. In the 1780s, Houdon produced two semi-nude sculptures, Winter and Bather. Perceived as bourgeois for his connections to the court of Louis XVI, he fell out of favour during the French Revolution, although he escaped imprisonment. Houdon returned to favor during the French Consulate and Empire, being taken on as one of the original artistic team for what became the Column of the Grande Armée at Wimille. He was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, on 17 December 1804. He was created a Chevalier de l'Empire in 1809, which was made hereditary by letters patent in 1816. • Illustration — American Bank Note CoIssue of 1890 Houdon died in Paris on 15 July 1828, and was interred at the Montparnasse Cemetery.

On 1 July 1786, he married Marie-Ange-Cecile Langlois; they had three daughters: Sabine, Anne-Ange, and Claudine.

• Illustration — Bust of Armand Thomas Hue de Miromesnil, 1775, Victoria and Albert Museum • Illustration — Bust of Alessandro Cagliostro, 1786, National Gallery of Art • Illustration — Bust of Washington based on a life mask cast in 1786, National Portrait Gallery • Illustration — Bust of Voltaire, 1778, Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers • Illustration — Voltaire, 1778, National Gallery of Art • Illustration — Bust of Madame Récamier after Joseph Chinard • Illustration — George Washington, Virginia State Capitol complex • Illustration — Seated Voltaire, Musée Fabre • Illustration — Skinned Man, Musée Fabre • Illustration — Winter, 1783, Musée Fabre • Illustration — The Summer, 1785, Fabre Museum • Illustration — Diana, 1780, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum • Illustration — Bust of Anne-Marie-Louise Thomas de Domangeville de Sérilly, Comtesse de Pange (1780), Art Institute of Chicago • Illustration — Madame Houdon, Louvre • Illustration — Bust of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Cleveland Museum of Art

The authorities additionally record the headings J. Houdon, Jean Houdon, Jean Antoine Houdon, Zhan Antuan Gudon and Sculpteur Cen Houdon. His recorded language was French. He married Marie-Ange-Cécile Langlois. 2 children are recorded: Sabine Houdon and Claudine Houdon. Other recorded relations include Josephine Calamatta and Marguerite-Julie-Antoinette Houdon.

Jean-Antoine Houdon is recorded as having received Prix de Rome and Knight of the Legion of Honour.