Mask of Voltaire - Item #815

 

13 Inches High x 6 Inches Wide x 6.75 Inches Deep

This mask is from the full-length statue, Voltaire Seated, created by Houdon. Of the many portraits made of him, Voltaire (1694-1778) preferred this depiction. The French Enlightenment writer was 83 when he sat for Houdon in Paris. The marble statue was commissioned by Voltaire's niece, Madame Denis, for the Comédie Française, and Houdon was asked by Catherine the Great of Russia to produce another marble for St. Petersburg. The sculpture was widely reproduced through the 20th century.

 

Artist: Jean-Antoine Houdon

Museum/Location: The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia and Comédie Française, Paris

Time Period: Modern- Neoclassical, 1781

1911 Catalog ID # - 13487

 

Sources:

Collins, Neil. "Jean Antoine Houdon." Art Encyclopedia. Visual-arts-cork.com, 2017, http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/sculpture/jean-antoine-houdon.htm.

"Seated Voltaire." Artsy, https://www.artsy.net/artwork/jean-antoine-houdon-seated-voltaire.

"Seated Voltaire." The Metropolitan Museum of Art,  https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/201455.

"Voltaire." The State Hermitage Museum, 1998-2017,  http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/06.+sculpture/40340.

"Voltaire." Victoria and Albert Museum, http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O94229/voltaire-bust-houdon-jean-antoine/.

"Voltaire Seated." Web Gallery of Art, http://www.wga.hu/html_m/h/houdon/voltaire.html.