Jean-Antoine HOUDON (1741-1828) and his workshopGeorges Washington (1732-1799) Bust in plaster with a terracotta patina. Original model created in 1785. Signed on the right shoulder "HOUDON F.". Bears the wax stamp (incomplete) of Houdon's workshop on the inside H: 65 cm including a Breche marble pedestal, H: 14 cm (Minor accidents and restorations). Provenance : - Family of connoisseurs, Paris, probably before 1960. Related works: - Jean-Antoine Houdon, George Washington (1732-1799), original terracotta model, H: 32 cm, Mount Vernon, Virginia, George Washington Estate, Museum & Gardens, inv. W-369 ; - Jean-Antoine Houdon, George Washington (1732-1799), bust in terracotta, H: 56 cm, Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. Louvre, inv. RF 350 ; - Jean-Antoine Houdon, George Washington (1732-1799), marble bust, H: 63 cm, Versailles, Musée National National du Château, inv. MV 630 ; - Louis Léopold Boilly, L'atelier de Houdon, circa 1804, oil on canvas, H: 88 x W: 115 cm, Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, inv. PE 63. Another example in plaster called "à l'antique avec le torse nu": - Jean-Antoine Houdon, George Washington (1732-1799), circa 1786, patinated plaster (originally), H: 54.5 cm, Boston, Athenaeum, inv. UH150 ; - Jean-Antoine Houdon, Georges Washington (1732-1799), stained plaster, H: 65 cm, n°59 in the exhibition catalogue Centenary of J.-A. Houdon, born in Versailles, Versailles, 1928. Related literature: - Guilhem Scherf, Houdon, 1741-1828: statues, sculpted portraits..., Paris, Musée du Louvre Ed. Somogy éd. D'art, 2006 ; -Anne Poulet, Jean-Antoine Houdon. Sculptor of the Enlightenment, cat. exhibition, Washington, The National Gallery of Art, 4 May-7 September 2003, Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum, 4 November 2003-25 January 2004, Versailles, Musée et Domaine national du Château de Versailles, 1 March-30 May 2004, Washington, University of chicago Press, 2003, P: 263-268 ; - Louis Réau, Houdon: sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris, F. de Nobele, 1964; - Paul Vitry, Centenaire de J.-A. Houdon, né à Versailles, cat. exp., Versailles, Bibliothèque de Versailles, 1928, P: 38. On the strength of his reputation as an illustrious portraitist, the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon was chosen in 1784 by Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin to create the full-length sculpture of George Washington commissioned by the Virginia Legislative Assembly. Although his model was a portrait painted by Charles Wilson Peale, the official portraitist of the hero of American Independence, Houdon nevertheless travelled to the United States to work "from life" on this prestigious commission. The sculptor, accompanied by Benjamin Franklin and three assistants, set sail from Le Havre for Philadelphia in July 1785. During his stay in October of the same year with the general resident at Mount Vernon, he executed a mask from life and a bust in terracotta. The large marble sculpture of the Founding Father of the United States of America delivered in 1796, which is still in the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, as well as the various bust versions, all derive from these two works modelled at Mount Vernon during the winter of 1785. Houdon produced three different versions of the bust of the statesman. An 'antique' version like the original terracotta, one in tunic and toga and one in shirt and scarf. The bust we are presenting is one of the rare 'antique' versions. It is difficult to be sure how many busts in patinated plaster there were in this "antique" version. On the spot, in 1785, Houdon made a first plaster copy from a mould of the terracotta modelled at Mount Vernon as a gift to Franklin; this copy has since been lost. In 1786, the sculptor's assistants returned to France with the moulds for the bust. In 1789 Jefferson was in Paris and bought a proof from Houdon (with a terracotta patina, the bust is now stripped, bears the remains of the workshop's wax stamp and is kept in Boston, Athenaeum, inv. UH150). A plaster copy, which cannot be located today, was part of the sale of the artist's studio collection in 1828, but its description does not allow us to know whether it was patinated or still clothed. Most of the surviving examples are late replicas of the model in toga, many in terracotta or bronze. The reverse of our bust bears the wax stamp that Houdon had applied to his busts, and which can be found on all the plaster casts and terracottas from his studio that were sold in 1795 and 1828. The work is signed below the shoulder in the still-fresh plaster with his beautiful signature in disjointed cursive characters. The impression is clear, lively and nervous, and the original patina is a beautiful golden blond. The bust rests on its original pedestal; an elegant breccia marble is a sign of the very special attention paid to it.