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Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture
- Trained at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1761 when only twenty years of age, Houdon was, by the middle of the 1780s, the most famous and accomplished Neoclassical sculptor in France. Jefferson commissioned Houdon to complete a monumental statue of Washington.
Houdon, with the Italian Antonio Canova, emerged as the leading sculptor of eighteenth and nineteenth century Neoclassical movement. Whereas Canova mostly produced works on a mythical theme, Houdon is better remembered for his portraits of modern democratic thinkers.
- French
- March 20, 1741
- Versailles, France
- July 15, 1828
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Jean-Antoine Houdon was a French sculptor known for his fresh and lively portrayals of such eighteenth-century American luminaries as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington.
Jefferson knew just the artist for this task: Jean-Antoine Houdon. Trained at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1761 when only twenty years of age, Houdon was, by the middle of the 1780s, the most famous and accomplished Neoclassical sculptor in France.
Houdon insisted upon coming to America to study Washington himself. He left France in July 1785 and arrived October 2 at Mount Vernon for a two-week stay. During the visit, he modeled a terra-cotta bust of Washington, made a life mask, and took measurements of his body.
Trained at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1761 when only twenty years of age, Houdon was, by the middle of the 1780s, the most famous and accomplished Neoclassical sculptor in France. Jefferson commissioned Houdon to complete a monumental statue of Washington.
From the age of 15 he began to study under Michel Ange Slodtz, one of the finest sculptors in France. Later, when Houdon won a fellowship to the French Academy , his teachers included the painter Carle Vanloo and François Dandré Bardon, the historian of ancient Rome.
Jean-Antoine Houdon was a prominent French neoclassical sculptor, celebrated for his lifelike busts and statues that captured the essence of his subjects. His work is characterized by a meticulous attention to detail, a mastery of realism, and an ability to convey the individuality of figures, which made him a leading figure in the neoclassical ...
