Alexandre Brongniart
Medium
marble
Dimensions
overall: 39.2 x 28.7 x 19 cm (15 7/16 x 11 5/16 x 7 1/2 in.)
Classification
Sculpture
Department
CSD
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Widener Collection
Accession Number
1942.9.123
Art Historical Context
This marble bust, created by the renowned French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon in 1777, captures the likeness of Alexandre Brongniart with remarkable sensitivity and precision. Measuring just over 15 inches in height, the intimate scale suggests it was intended for private appreciation rather than grand public display. Houdon, celebrated for his lifelike portraits during the Enlightenment era, excelled at rendering the textures of skin, hair, and fabric in stone, bringing a sense of vitality to his subjects. As a leading figure of Neoclassical sculpture, Houdon often portrayed intellectuals, s...
About the Artist
Jean-Antoine Houdon · 1741–1828
Houdon studied under Slodtz, Pigalle, and Lemoyne at the ancienne école académique and at the age of twenty won the Prix de Rome. Three years later, Houdon obtained a residency at the Académie de France in Rome, and in Italy, he discovered the newly uncovered works at Herculaneum and Pompeii as well as works of the Renaissance sculptors, especially Michelangelo. A year after his return to Paris in...