GENERAL DESCRIPTION
This is one of a pair of statuettes and superb example of the kind of fine craftsmanship and genius of idea for which Claude Michel, known as Clodion, was prized by collectors and connoisseurs during the 1790s. The subject is of classical inspiration: represented are a male and a female follower of Bacchus, the Greek God of wine. This male bacchant is a satyr (half man and half goat). He also carries pinecone tipped wands (called thyrsi), from which heavy bunches of grapes dangle, along with a small kid goat. The figure is represented as if captured in mid flight, and is richly articulated by the sculptor so that it reads equally well from every side. While Clodion's conceit of capturing movement in sculpture reflects his admiration for the 17th-century Italian sculptor Bernini, the blatant eroticism of this sensual body places this work squarely within the realm of taste in late 18th-century Paris. During the 1790s, Clodion began to explore subjects which, though derived from classical iconography, were of a lighter, more gallant flavor, in line with the kinds of themes treated by Francois Boucher. In fact, Boucher was an early supporter of Clodion.
Born in Nancy, France, Clodion came from a family of sculptors, including Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, who served as his first teacher. He then studied under the great sculptor Pigalle winning the Grand Prix for sculpture in 1759. Pigalle, the infamous author of the naked Voltaire that so scandalized the Academy, must have zealously insisted upon the artist's obligation to the direct observation of nature, a philosophy that Clodion would combine with his comprehensive knowledge of the art of antiquity. When Clodion married the daughter of the celebrated sculptor Augustin Pajou, no one could have been better positioned to take advantage of his father-in-law's royal connections and academic prestige. Clodion received a series of commissions for public monuments, while enjoying the patronage of the newly moneyed middle class. The mania for terra cottas like this bacchant would be extinguished abruptly by the advent of the Revolution, when such works were condemned as dangerous reminders of the ancien regime and its moral decadence.
Adapted from
Eik Kahng, The Michael L. Rosenberg Collection (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, n.d.), 15-16.
NOTES
Created c. 1790-1799
AFTER EDITING, SEND TMS INFO TO BMAC FOR ARCHIVING
former number- T43007.47.1-2
Checked Piction
Full text for General Description:
This is one of a pair of statuettes and superb example of the kind of fine craftsmanship and genius of idea for which Clodion was prized by collectors and connoisseurs during the 1790s. The subject is of classical inspiration: represented are a male and a female follower of Bacchus, the Greek God of wine.
This female bacchante, known as a maenad, holds a pinecone tipped wand (called a thyrsus), a fertility symbol associated with Bacchus. The male bacchante is a satyr (half man and half goat). He also carries thyrsi, from which heavy bunches of grapes dangle, along with a small kid goat. Both figures are represented as if captured in mid flight, and are richly articulated by the sculptor so that each reads equally well from every side. While Clodion's conceit of capturing movement in sculpture reflects his admiration for the 17th-century Italian sculptor Bernini, the blatant eroticism ofthese sensual bodies places these works squarely within the realm of taste in late 18th-century Paris. During the 1790s, Clodion began to explore subjects which, though derived from classical iconography, were of a lighter, more gallant flavor, in line with the kinds of themes treated by Francois Boucher. In fact, Boucher was an early supporter of Clodion.
The two artists owned examples of each other's work, and Clodion produced sculpted adaptations of some of Boucher's most popular imagery. Clodion's earlier work had reflected the more somber, monumental classicism which the young artist had so assiduously studied during his years in Rome from 1762 to 1771. But, by the 1790s Clodion was plumbing his profound knowledge of antiquity and his mastery of anatomy as a means of achieving the same kind of lightly erotic effect to be found in the painting of Boucher and Fragonard.
Born in Nancy, Clodion came from a family of sculptors, including Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, who served as his first teacher. He then studied under the great sculptor, Pigalle, winning the Grand Prix for sculpture in 1759. Pigalle, the infamous author of the naked Voltaire that so scandalized the Academy, must have zealously insisted upon the artist's obligation to the direct observation of nature, a philosophy that Clodion would combine with his comprehensive knowledge of the art of antiquity. When Clodion married the daughter of the celebrated sculptor, Augustin Pajou, no one could have been better positioned to take advantage of his father-inlaw's royal connections and academic prestige. Clodion received a series of commissions for public monuments, while enjoying the patronage of the newly moneyed middle class. The mania for terra cottas like the Rosenberg Bacchantes would be extinguished abruptly by the advent of the Revolution, when such works were condemned as dangerous reminders of the ancien regime and its moral decadence.
Excerpt from
Eik Kahng, The Michael L. Rosenberg Collection (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, n.d.), 15-16.
PROVENANCE (not public)
The arc of the history of ownership of the Rosenberg Bacchants is of significance not only because it documents the provenance of the statuettes, but also because it follows the general pattern of critical appreciation for sculptures by Clodion, as well as that for works of other artists of the French eighteenth century, such as Jean-Honoré Fragonard.
Michael Rosenberg acquired his Clodion statuettes in 1996 from a dealer in London.10 The first mention of them seems to be in the catalogue of a small sale in Paris of the Boulade (?) Collection on February 21, 1820, in which they are listed as: “Two pendant figures of a Hunter and a Bacchante by [Claudion] [sic].”11 Subsequently, they are recorded as being in the collection of the wealthy French banker and government official Baron Louis-Charles Thibon (1761–1837), who amassed an impressive collection of French sculpture and decorative arts. His son, Baron Charles-Lucien Thibon (d. circa 1875) inherited the collection at his father’s death. In 1862 F. de Villars published one of the first articles praising Clodion,
suggesting that a monograph should be written on the artist and incorporating a catalogue of the Baron’s large collection of the sculptor’s work, including the Chasseur (hunter) and Bacchante.12 The author declares, “The Baron Thibon is enthusiastic and fanatic about Clodion.”
When the Thibon collection was sold in Paris in February 1875,13 the Rosenberg terracottas did not appear in the sale. They may have been sold privately to Baron Gustave Samuel James de Rothschild (1829–1911) in the early 1870s, but no documentation for the acquisition has been found to date. The Rosenberg sculptures next appeared in a sale at Parke-Bernet in New York in 1948 and were catalogued as coming from the Baron Gustave de Rothschild collection.14 Wildenstein & Co. acquired them at the sale, and the Daniel Katz Gallery subsequently purchased the pair of Bacchants from Wildenstein & Co., in turn selling them to Michael Rosenberg. To this day Clodion’s sculptures have continued to be popular, particularly with American collectors.
CLODION:
By way of mentioning the kind of additional decorations one would find in these rooms, Mr. Rosenberg had an absolutely exquisite pair of terracotta sculptures of the followers of Bacchus, the ancient Greek god of wine. This pair of bacchants (see fig. 121, p. 170, and fig. 122, p. 172) came quite late in the eighteenth century, made by the wonderful sculptor Claude Michel, known as Clodion, who specialized in these little terracotta figures which were avidly collected at the time. Clodion’s works demonstrate virtuoso craftsmanship: people with their legs sticking out, draperies flying, a pair of bacchants running along with wands over their shoulders, the male figure with a goat, a female on the right with bunches of hanging grapes. One can just imagine them in one of those beautiful, elegant rooms like those at Crozat’s Château de Montmorency. (17)
Philip Conisbee, "Michael L. Rosenberg's Eighteenth Century," 11-23, in French Art of the Eigteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
The male followers, called bacchants or satyrs, were represented partially nude, wearing only animal skins, and sometimes with the ears, tail, and legs of a goat. They were often accompanied by animals meant for sacrifice. Around the body of the Borghese Vase, for example, there is a continuous scene of cavorting bacchantes and bacchants. On one side, a nude male with an animal skin thrown over his left shoulder dances between two female figures, one holding a tambourine and both wearing swirling diaphanous robes (fig. 125). The Rosenberg Running Bacchant is of a type similar to that on the Borghese Vase in that he is nude except for an animal skin loosely wrapped around his left thigh and falling between his legs. In Clodion’s figure, the animal skin is held in place by a rope of ivy strapped diagonally across his chest. Like his companion, he holds two thyrsi, one in each hand, crossed over his shoulders behind his head and from which hang a large bunch of grapes and a dead goat. A pair of cymbals is attached to the tree trunk supporting the Running Bacchant.
Anne L. Poulet, "On the Run: Clodion's Bacchanalian Figures," 171-179, in French Art of the Eigteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
No label texts in TMS.
These figures are followers ofBacchus, the ancient Greek god ofwine. The female carries pinecone-tipped wands that were fertility symbols. The male is a satyr, a mythical figure that was halfman and half goat. He carries similar wands draped with grapes and a small kid goat, which were used to honor of the god of wine.
The liveliness ofthe figures and crisp details reveal Clodion's flawless skill in sculpting terracotta. His playful adaptations of mythological subjects, with their outstanding craftsmanship and charm made him enormously popular in the years before the French Revolution.
From- didactic and label copy in education files, no date or author.
Education doc shows date as c. 1790-92- worth adding to TMS to show dating reassigned?
Related object: 29.2004.14.1 Clodion, Running Bacchante
Catalogue essays
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Place of origin: France (nation): TGN: 1000070
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terracotta
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AUDIO ASSETS
13316307: UMO On the Run: Clodion's Bacchanalian Figures
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WEB RESOURCES
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York~View another work by Clodion titled The Intoxication of Wine.
- Victoria & Albert Museum, London~Check out Clodion's Cupid and Psyche.
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General Description
This is one of a pair of statuettes and superb example of the kind of fine craftsmanship and genius of idea for which Claude Michel, known as Clodion, was prized by collectors and connoisseurs during the 1790s. The subject is of classical inspiration: represented are a male and a female follower of Bacchus, the Greek God of wine. This male bacchant is a satyr (half man and half goat). He also carries pinecone tipped wands (called thyrsi), from which heavy bunches of grapes dangle, along with a small kid goat. The figure is represented as if captured in mid flight, and is richly articulated by the sculptor so that it reads equally well from every side. While Clodion's conceit of capturing movement in sculpture reflects his admiration for the 17th-century Italian sculptor Bernini, the blatant eroticism of this sensual body places this work squarely within the realm of taste in late 18th-century Paris. During the 1790s, Clodion began to explore subjects which, though derived from classical iconography, were of a lighter, more gallant flavor, in line with the kinds of themes treated by Francois Boucher. In fact, Boucher was an early supporter of Clodion.
Born in Nancy, France, Clodion came from a family of sculptors, including Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, who served as his first teacher. He then studied under the great sculptor Pigalle winning the Grand Prix for sculpture in 1759. Pigalle, the infamous author of the naked Voltaire that so scandalized the Academy, must have zealously insisted upon the artist's obligation to the direct observation of nature, a philosophy that Clodion would combine with his comprehensive knowledge of the art of antiquity. When Clodion married the daughter of the celebrated sculptor Augustin Pajou, no one could have been better positioned to take advantage of his father-in-law's royal connections and academic prestige. Clodion received a series of commissions for public monuments, while enjoying the patronage of the newly moneyed middle class. The mania for terra cottas like this bacchant would be extinguished abruptly by the advent of the Revolution, when such works were condemned as dangerous reminders of the ancien regime and its moral decadence.
Adapted from
Eik Kahng, The Michael L. Rosenberg Collection (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, n.d.), 15-16.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York~View another work by Clodion titled The Intoxication of Wine.
- Victoria & Albert Museum, London~Check out Clodion's Cupid and Psyche.
Notes
Created c. 1790-1799
AFTER EDITING, SEND TMS INFO TO BMAC FOR ARCHIVING
former number- T43007.47.1-2
Checked Piction
Full text for General Description:
This is one of a pair of statuettes and superb example of the kind of fine craftsmanship and genius of idea for which Clodion was prized by collectors and connoisseurs during the 1790s. The subject is of classical inspiration: represented are a male and a female follower of Bacchus, the Greek God of wine.
This female bacchante, known as a maenad, holds a pinecone tipped wand (called a thyrsus), a fertility symbol associated with Bacchus. The male bacchante is a satyr (half man and half goat). He also carries thyrsi, from which heavy bunches of grapes dangle, along with a small kid goat. Both figures are represented as if captured in mid flight, and are richly articulated by the sculptor so that each reads equally well from every side. While Clodion's conceit of capturing movement in sculpture reflects his admiration for the 17th-century Italian sculptor Bernini, the blatant eroticism ofthese sensual bodies places these works squarely within the realm of taste in late 18th-century Paris. During the 1790s, Clodion began to explore subjects which, though derived from classical iconography, were of a lighter, more gallant flavor, in line with the kinds of themes treated by Francois Boucher. In fact, Boucher was an early supporter of Clodion.
The two artists owned examples of each other's work, and Clodion produced sculpted adaptations of some of Boucher's most popular imagery. Clodion's earlier work had reflected the more somber, monumental classicism which the young artist had so assiduously studied during his years in Rome from 1762 to 1771. But, by the 1790s Clodion was plumbing his profound knowledge of antiquity and his mastery of anatomy as a means of achieving the same kind of lightly erotic effect to be found in the painting of Boucher and Fragonard.
Born in Nancy, Clodion came from a family of sculptors, including Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, who served as his first teacher. He then studied under the great sculptor, Pigalle, winning the Grand Prix for sculpture in 1759. Pigalle, the infamous author of the naked Voltaire that so scandalized the Academy, must have zealously insisted upon the artist's obligation to the direct observation of nature, a philosophy that Clodion would combine with his comprehensive knowledge of the art of antiquity. When Clodion married the daughter of the celebrated sculptor, Augustin Pajou, no one could have been better positioned to take advantage of his father-inlaw's royal connections and academic prestige. Clodion received a series of commissions for public monuments, while enjoying the patronage of the newly moneyed middle class. The mania for terra cottas like the Rosenberg Bacchantes would be extinguished abruptly by the advent of the Revolution, when such works were condemned as dangerous reminders of the ancien regime and its moral decadence.
Excerpt from
Eik Kahng, The Michael L. Rosenberg Collection (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, n.d.), 15-16.
PROVENANCE (not public)
The arc of the history of ownership of the Rosenberg Bacchants is of significance not only because it documents the provenance of the statuettes, but also because it follows the general pattern of critical appreciation for sculptures by Clodion, as well as that for works of other artists of the French eighteenth century, such as Jean-Honoré Fragonard.
Michael Rosenberg acquired his Clodion statuettes in 1996 from a dealer in London.10 The first mention of them seems to be in the catalogue of a small sale in Paris of the Boulade (?) Collection on February 21, 1820, in which they are listed as: “Two pendant figures of a Hunter and a Bacchante by [Claudion] [sic].”11 Subsequently, they are recorded as being in the collection of the wealthy French banker and government official Baron Louis-Charles Thibon (1761–1837), who amassed an impressive collection of French sculpture and decorative arts. His son, Baron Charles-Lucien Thibon (d. circa 1875) inherited the collection at his father’s death. In 1862 F. de Villars published one of the first articles praising Clodion,
suggesting that a monograph should be written on the artist and incorporating a catalogue of the Baron’s large collection of the sculptor’s work, including the Chasseur (hunter) and Bacchante.12 The author declares, “The Baron Thibon is enthusiastic and fanatic about Clodion.”
When the Thibon collection was sold in Paris in February 1875,13 the Rosenberg terracottas did not appear in the sale. They may have been sold privately to Baron Gustave Samuel James de Rothschild (1829–1911) in the early 1870s, but no documentation for the acquisition has been found to date. The Rosenberg sculptures next appeared in a sale at Parke-Bernet in New York in 1948 and were catalogued as coming from the Baron Gustave de Rothschild collection.14 Wildenstein & Co. acquired them at the sale, and the Daniel Katz Gallery subsequently purchased the pair of Bacchants from Wildenstein & Co., in turn selling them to Michael Rosenberg. To this day Clodion’s sculptures have continued to be popular, particularly with American collectors.
CLODION:
By way of mentioning the kind of additional decorations one would find in these rooms, Mr. Rosenberg had an absolutely exquisite pair of terracotta sculptures of the followers of Bacchus, the ancient Greek god of wine. This pair of bacchants (see fig. 121, p. 170, and fig. 122, p. 172) came quite late in the eighteenth century, made by the wonderful sculptor Claude Michel, known as Clodion, who specialized in these little terracotta figures which were avidly collected at the time. Clodion’s works demonstrate virtuoso craftsmanship: people with their legs sticking out, draperies flying, a pair of bacchants running along with wands over their shoulders, the male figure with a goat, a female on the right with bunches of hanging grapes. One can just imagine them in one of those beautiful, elegant rooms like those at Crozat’s Château de Montmorency. (17)
Philip Conisbee, "Michael L. Rosenberg's Eighteenth Century," 11-23, in French Art of the Eigteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
The male followers, called bacchants or satyrs, were represented partially nude, wearing only animal skins, and sometimes with the ears, tail, and legs of a goat. They were often accompanied by animals meant for sacrifice. Around the body of the Borghese Vase, for example, there is a continuous scene of cavorting bacchantes and bacchants. On one side, a nude male with an animal skin thrown over his left shoulder dances between two female figures, one holding a tambourine and both wearing swirling diaphanous robes (fig. 125). The Rosenberg Running Bacchant is of a type similar to that on the Borghese Vase in that he is nude except for an animal skin loosely wrapped around his left thigh and falling between his legs. In Clodion’s figure, the animal skin is held in place by a rope of ivy strapped diagonally across his chest. Like his companion, he holds two thyrsi, one in each hand, crossed over his shoulders behind his head and from which hang a large bunch of grapes and a dead goat. A pair of cymbals is attached to the tree trunk supporting the Running Bacchant.
Anne L. Poulet, "On the Run: Clodion's Bacchanalian Figures," 171-179, in French Art of the Eigteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
No label texts in TMS.
These figures are followers ofBacchus, the ancient Greek god ofwine. The female carries pinecone-tipped wands that were fertility symbols. The male is a satyr, a mythical figure that was halfman and half goat. He carries similar wands draped with grapes and a small kid goat, which were used to honor of the god of wine.
The liveliness ofthe figures and crisp details reveal Clodion's flawless skill in sculpting terracotta. His playful adaptations of mythological subjects, with their outstanding craftsmanship and charm made him enormously popular in the years before the French Revolution.
From- didactic and label copy in education files, no date or author.
Education doc shows date as c. 1790-92- worth adding to TMS to show dating reassigned?
Related object: 29.2004.14.1 Clodion, Running Bacchante
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: France (nation): TGN: 1000070
Process/materials
terracotta
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
13316307: UMO On the Run: Clodion's Bacchanalian Figures
VIDEO ASSETS
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