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Lot Essay
Jean-Antoine Houdon was the most important French sculptor of the 18th century and he is particularly noted for the originality and intimacy of his portraits. Unsurprisingly, among the most spontaneous of these are the portraits he executed of his close friends and family including the children of the architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, and his own daughter Sabine.
Houdon executed busts of all three of his daughters, and he did several of Sabine at intervals from the age of only 10 months. However it is perhaps the present composition, portraying her at four years of age, which most captures the imagination. With her loosely ringletted hair framing her face and falling over her bare shoulders, the sculptor is able to contrast the textures of the hair and her infant skin. Her facial expression is both intent and expectant.
Variant examples exist portraying Sabine with bare shoulders, as here, and with a simple chemise. The best known examples are the plaster bust in the Louvre and a marble in the Huntington Museum, California, both of which can be traced back to the family of the artist (Giacometti, loc. cit.). The popularity of the model is attested to by the number of examples known in plaster, marble and bronze.
Houdon executed busts of all three of his daughters, and he did several of Sabine at intervals from the age of only 10 months. However it is perhaps the present composition, portraying her at four years of age, which most captures the imagination. With her loosely ringletted hair framing her face and falling over her bare shoulders, the sculptor is able to contrast the textures of the hair and her infant skin. Her facial expression is both intent and expectant.
Variant examples exist portraying Sabine with bare shoulders, as here, and with a simple chemise. The best known examples are the plaster bust in the Louvre and a marble in the Huntington Museum, California, both of which can be traced back to the family of the artist (Giacometti, loc. cit.). The popularity of the model is attested to by the number of examples known in plaster, marble and bronze.