PMA Show to Focus on Houdon's Bust of Benjamin Franklin
Thursday March 2, 2006
By Stan Parchin
Thursday, March 02, 2006
In honor of the 300th anniversary of the birth of American scientist, philosopher and statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), the Philadelphia Museum of Art will be presenting In Pursuit of Genius: Jean-Antoine Houdon and the Sculpted Portraits of Benjamin Franklin from May 13 to July 31, 2006. Franklin achieved overnight celebrity in Western Europe while ambassador of the nascent United States to France from 1776 to 1785. He captivated the imaginations of many French artists who sought to portray the quiet intellectual of the Enlightenment in painting and sculpture.
The exhibition will include some 30 works of art related to the Philadelphia Museum of Art's exquisite marble Bust of Benjamin Franklin (1779) by French Neoclassical sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828). The artist worked in Rome from 1764 to 1768, where he was exposed to Roman art from Pompeii and masterworks of the Italian Renaissance. Created at the height of his career, Houdon's bust features Franklin attired in his simple "Quaker dress" which he preferred to the usual elaborate clothing donned by ambassadors and diplomats of the time. What distinguishes Houdon's work from other portraits of Franklin is that the statesman never sat for the sculptor in his studio, attesting to the artist's profound creative ingenuity.
Also included in the show will be several portrait busts of Franklin made by Houdon between 1778 and 1779. Other historic likenesses of the Founding Father, in a range of mediums and produced by Houdon's French contemporaries, will complement those by the master sculptor. Located in the museum's second-floor European Art Galleries, In Pursuit of Genius ... will also examine the world of eighteenth-century sculpture in France, when portraying the age's most famous members of royalty and philosophers was a highly competitive business.
As part of the citywide celebration of Franklin's birth, Houdon's bust is presently on view at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center as part of Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World until April 30, 2006.
Image credit:
Jean-Antoine Houdon (French, 1741-1828)
Bust of Benjamin Franklin, 1779
Marble
21 x 13 1/2 x 10 in. (53.3 x 34.3 x 25.4 cm)
© Philadelphia Museum of Art
Thursday, March 02, 2006
In honor of the 300th anniversary of the birth of American scientist, philosopher and statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), the Philadelphia Museum of Art will be presenting In Pursuit of Genius: Jean-Antoine Houdon and the Sculpted Portraits of Benjamin Franklin from May 13 to July 31, 2006. Franklin achieved overnight celebrity in Western Europe while ambassador of the nascent United States to France from 1776 to 1785. He captivated the imaginations of many French artists who sought to portray the quiet intellectual of the Enlightenment in painting and sculpture.
The exhibition will include some 30 works of art related to the Philadelphia Museum of Art's exquisite marble Bust of Benjamin Franklin (1779) by French Neoclassical sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828). The artist worked in Rome from 1764 to 1768, where he was exposed to Roman art from Pompeii and masterworks of the Italian Renaissance. Created at the height of his career, Houdon's bust features Franklin attired in his simple "Quaker dress" which he preferred to the usual elaborate clothing donned by ambassadors and diplomats of the time. What distinguishes Houdon's work from other portraits of Franklin is that the statesman never sat for the sculptor in his studio, attesting to the artist's profound creative ingenuity.
Also included in the show will be several portrait busts of Franklin made by Houdon between 1778 and 1779. Other historic likenesses of the Founding Father, in a range of mediums and produced by Houdon's French contemporaries, will complement those by the master sculptor. Located in the museum's second-floor European Art Galleries, In Pursuit of Genius ... will also examine the world of eighteenth-century sculpture in France, when portraying the age's most famous members of royalty and philosophers was a highly competitive business.
As part of the citywide celebration of Franklin's birth, Houdon's bust is presently on view at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center as part of Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World until April 30, 2006.
Image credit:
Jean-Antoine Houdon (French, 1741-1828)
Bust of Benjamin Franklin, 1779
Marble
21 x 13 1/2 x 10 in. (53.3 x 34.3 x 25.4 cm)
© Philadelphia Museum of Art
Comments
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