Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
58.S.2 |
Object Name |
Bust |
Title |
Bust of Marquis de Condorcet |
Artist |
Houdon, Jean-Antoine |
Date |
1785 |
Description |
Life-sized, marble portrait bust on low, circular, columnar base. The subject's hair is curled about his ears and tied back with a ribbon. He wears a high-collared, ruffled shirt, a vest, and an open jacket. Incised on proper right shoulder, "Houdon Fecit 1785." |
Label |
During the 1780s, French mathematician and social reformer Nicholas de Condorcet was one of "les Américains," a group of progressive aristocrats who supported the American Revolution and believed the United States could be a model for France. They often gathered at the homes of the La Rochefoucauld family, who commissioned this bust in 1785. Houdon's portrait idealizes Condorcet, eliminating the pockmarks on his face and his hunched posture. Instead, he appears sensitive and thoughtful, seeming to look into the future. During the French Revolution, Condorcet and the La Rochefoucaulds bitterly parted ways. The family, who accused Condorcet of doing nothing to help when the Duc de la Rochefoucauld and his son Charles were brutally slaughtered in 1792, hid the bust of their former friend in a storage room. Twenty years later, William Short, a longtime lover of La Rochefoucauld's widow Rosalie, asked her to give him the sculpture. Short, an APS member and protégé of Thomas Jefferson, donated the bust to the APS in 1830. |
Medium |
Marble |
Dimensions |
H-30.5 W-20 inches |
Dimension Details |
Without base: 25 x 20 Base: 5.5 x 9.75 (diam.) |
Credit line |
American Philosophical Society. Gift of William Short, 19 March 1830. |
Search Terms |
18th century eighteenth century sculpture France French |