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François-Marie Arouet known as Voltaire (1694-1778)
Sculptor: Houdon, Jean-Antoine
Terracotta, supported on a pedestal of grey and black marble with gilt-bronze mouldings. Voltaire is seated in an armchair; wrapped in a loose dressing gown; his right hand resting on the arm of the chair and his head turned slightly to the right. At the back of the chair there is a red wax seal ACADEM./ROYALE/ DE PEINTURE/ ET SCULPT./HOUDON/SC.'. The figure is enclosed in a rectangular glazed case with ormolu framing.
History note: Sir Arthur Pinero; Sotheby's, 5th April, 1935, Catalogue of Valuable Porcelain, Historical Relics, Musical Instruments, Furniture etc, p. 6, the property of Sir A M. Pinero (decd.), lot 19, illustrated as frontispiece; Durlacher, London.
Given by L.C.G. Clarke, MA, LLD
Height: 33.5 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1960) by Clarke, Louis Colville Gray
18th Century, Late
Louis XVI
Production date:
circa
AD 1778
In the Paris Salon of 1779 Houdon exhibited a small gilt-bronze statue of Voltaire seated, intended for Catherine II. The work was greatly admired, and was reproduced in bronze, terracotta and plaster. Houdon's full-size marble version, commissioned in 1778, was exhibited at the Salon in 1781, and in 1782 installed in the Theâtre Française (now théâtre de l'Odéon). It is now in the foyer of the Comedie Française. A small terracotta in the Musée Lambinet, Versailles is inscribed, 'f.p. Houdon an 1778', and has been considered to be the model for the bronze (as has this example). There are several other examples in plaster and terracotta which bear the red wax seal of Houdon's studio. For an extensive list of the large and small-size versions of this work, see Documentation, Scherf, 2006.
Pedestal Mouldings
composed of
bronze
( gilded)
Figure
composed of
terracotta
Pedestal
composed of
marble
Marble
Height 11.2 cm
Terracotta Base
Marble Base
Pedestal Mounting
Accession number: M.124-1961
Primary reference Number: 29925
External ID: CAM_CCF_M_124_1961
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "François-Marie Arouet known as Voltaire (1694-1778)" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/29925 Accessed: 2024-11-05 16:18:32
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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/29925
|title=François-Marie Arouet known as Voltaire (1694-1778)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-05 16:18:32|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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