Houdon, JEAN-ANTOINE

Houdon, JEAN-ANTOINE, the greatest French sculptor of the 18th century, was born at Versailles, 20th March 1741. He was of humble origin, his father holding office in a nobleman's house. He was a born sculptor, and at the age of thirteen had already attracted notice. An untrammeled eclecticism was ever Houdon's most prominent characteristic. In 1761, when he was but twenty, he won the prix de Rome, and in Rome he threw himself with enthusiasm into the study of the antique. Herculaneum and Pompeii had not long been brought to light. All Winckelmann's works were published during Houdon's sojourn in Italy. Ten years he remained in Rome, and there executed the colossal figure of St Bruno, the founder of the order of the Chartreuse, of which Pope Clement XIV. said that it would speak did not the rules of its order enforce silence. On his return to France the usual official honours were conferred upon him. In 1777 he was received into the Academy; in 1796 he was elected member of the Institute; and he was appointed professor at the École des Beaux-arts in 1805. Apart from his work his life was singularly uneventful, though he once visited America under the escort of Franklin, to execute a monument in honour of Washington (1785). Nor did he altogether escape from the troubles of the Revolution. An allegorical figure from his hand, entitled 'Sainte Scholastique,' involved him in the heinous charge of desiring to perpetuate the worship of the saints. But on pleading that his statue only represented Philosophy, he was acquitted. Towards the end of his life his intellect failed him, and death came as a release, 16th July 1828. Houdon is perhaps the most conspicuous figure among the artists of his time. His mastery over his material was complete. So great were his technical skill and adroitness that they sometimes carried him beyond the bounds of his art. He had essayed all styles without sacrificing his personality, and, while much of his work has an almost classical simplicity, it was generally his method (in portraiture at least) to obtain a resemblance by an infinitude of details. It is a little strange that his 'Ecorché' should be the most widely known of his works. For it was in portraiture that his greatest triumphs were achieved. Turgot, Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, Franklin, Washington, Lafayette, Mirabeau, Napoleon, and Mdlle. Arnould are a few of the great men and women whose features he has perpetuated for us. In 1890 a statue of him was erected at Versailles at a cost of 10,000 francs.