Washington by Houdon: A Commanding Result
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Carved from life, the founding father’s bust confirmed its reputation as a monument of 18th-century sculpture. Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828) and his studio, George Washington (1732-1799), plaster bust with terracotta-like patina, signed, original model created in 1785, h. 65 cm/25.59 in (breccia marble plinth, h. 14 cm/5.51 in). Result: €901,600 While the provenance is cryptic—“A family of connoisseurs, Paris, probably before 1960”—the model is famous. This bust of George Washington is almost as well-known a monument of French sculpture in the United States as the Statue of Liberty. When they were in Paris, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin asked Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828) to carve the portrait without
