After Jean Antoine Houdon
(French, 1741-1828)

White marble on a variegate marble plinth,
19th century.

Jean Antoine Houdon was an infant prodigy who later became the most famous portrait sculptor of the late 18th century. He entered the old École Royale de Sculpture at the age of twelve and studied under Slodtz and Pigalle. At the age of twenty he won the Prix de Rome--the youngest winner ever-- and worked in Italy until 1770. His concentration of work were portrait figures and busts. Most of the leading men and women of Europe ( and later America) were his sitters. Many of his marble figures and busts were also edited in plaster and bronze.
Listed in Mackay's, The Dictionary of Western Sculptors. Also listed in Benezit.