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Voltaire
Jean-Antoine Houdon1778
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
Details
- Title: Voltaire
- Creator: Jean-Antoine Houdon
- Date Created: 1778
- Physical Dimensions: overall: 52.7 x 45.5 x 33.3 cm (20 3/4 x 17 15/16 x 13 1/8 in.) gross weight: 156 lb. (70.761 kg)
- Provenance: Executed for the Lamorinière family, France; taken by them to England 1870/1871 during the Franco-Prussian War; consigned to (anonymous dealer, London); sold to Alfred Morrison [1821-1897], London and Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire;[1] (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 10 February 1900, no. 108); (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[2] sold 8 November 1901 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[3] inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA. [1] This early provenance was given in a letter of 12 Februry 1900 to Duveen Brothers from the dealer who sold the sculpture to Morrison. A typed transcription of the letter, annotated "signature illegible," came to NGA with the Widener collection records and is in NGA curatorial files. [2] This sale, which included four sculptures from Morrison's collection, was kindly brought to the NGA's attention by Dr. Diana Kostyrko (e-mail of 28 August 2008, in NGA curatorial files). The annotated copy of the sales catalogue in the Knoedler Microfiche (British Sales) gives Duveen as the buyer. [3] The date of this sale is in the Widener card file, in NGA curatorial files.
- Rights: CC0
- Medium: marble
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