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02164_Houston_Houdon_44_578

HOUDON, Jean-Antoine

Versailles, Yvelines 1741 - Paris 1828

Anne-Ange Houdon, seconde fille de l'artiste

Anne-Ange Houdon, second daughter of the artist

1790

unglazed terracotta

bust

Dimensions (HxWxD): H. 12; including base: 15 58 in.

signed on right shoulder: Houdon

Acc. No.: 44.578

Credit Line: The Edith A. and Percy S. Straus Collection

Photo credit: MFA, Houston, 2013

© Artist : public domain

© Artist : public domain

Provenance

  • 1944, The Edith A. and Percy S. Straus Collection

Bibliography

  • 1981 Agee
    The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. A Guide to the Collection, Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts, 1981, p. 85-86, no. 150, repr., entry by J. Patrice Marandel

Comment

  • 1981 Agee, p. 85-86 no. 150, entry by J. Patrice Marandel:
    [...] The sitter for this small plaster [identified today as a terracotta] is Houdon's second daughter, Anne-Ange, at the age of about two. Besides following the normal trend for an artist of his generation to move from a light rococo style to more austere Neoclassical formulas, Houdon also always adapted his work to the personality of his model. In this relatively late work, the soft features of the child are captured with beguiling informality, and the quick upward turn of the head gives the sculpture its vitality.