Memoirs of the life and works of Jean Antoine Houdon : the sculptor of Voltaire and of Washington . On the 4th of April the French Acad-emy decide to have a portrait painted from Houdons bust as acompanion to the painting by Largilliere of Voltaire in his ,2 in speaking of this, prefaces it by saying, Thebust of Voltaire, which is dated as of 1778, was finished during thelast days of March. Guiffrey endeavors to combat the records ofthe Memoires Secrets by saying that it was quite out of the ques-tion to suppose that, even admitting the bust to have been finishedbefore the
Memoirs of the life and works of Jean Antoine Houdon : the sculptor of Voltaire and of Washington . On the 4th of April the French Acad-emy decide to have a portrait painted from Houdons bust as acompanion to the painting by Largilliere of Voltaire in his ,2 in speaking of this, prefaces it by saying, Thebust of Voltaire, which is dated as of 1778, was finished during thelast days of March. Guiffrey endeavors to combat the records ofthe Memoires Secrets by saying that it was quite out of the ques-tion to suppose that, even admitting the bust to have been finishedbefore the 30th of March, it could have been taken to the Comedieand returned to Houdons studio afterward. We fail to see why;but, granting it for the sake of argument, what was to prevent Hou-don having a second cast on view at his studio? We see in thisreasoning of Guiffrey evidence that he is arguing from the stand-point of a finished marble bust, and this is where he is again inerror. But when we get to the 4th of April, five days only after the 1 Vol. VI, p. 164. 2 Iconographie Voltairienne, p. ^(CDILTAIMffi A IL AifTIOUE Jean Antoine Houdon 45 memorable sixth performance of Irene, and find the FrenchAcademy ordering a portrait from the Houdon bust, the inferenceis irresistible that such a bust had been in existence on the 30th ofMarch. To go back for a moment to Guiffrey, in arguing for Caffierissupposed bust, he says (page 276) : This bust was certainly mod-eled then between the 10th of February and the 15th of rapidity of execution has nothing in it to surprise one in a manof Caffieris skill; and on pages 285 and 286, in a comparison of thetwo artists, he [Caffieri] was neglected for a younger competitor[Houdon], also more productive and, it must be said, more skil-ful. We find, therefore, Guiffrey arguing for Caffieri from premisesinfinitely stronger when applied to Houdon. The only existing record of Le Moynes bust is an engraving byAugustin de St. Aubin. The b
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidmemoirsoflif, bookyear1911
