Jean-Antoine Houdon
Source: Wikipedia: Jean-Antoine Houdon
Arts & Music • Historical Archive • 🇫🇷 Kingdom of France • 2 views

Jean-Antoine Houdon 🇫🇷

Jean-Antoine Houdon (Known as "The Sculptor of the Enlightenment")
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Born Mar 20, 1741 🇫🇷 Versailles, Kingdom of France
Passed Away Jul 15, 1828 Paris, Kingdom of France
Lifespan 87 years old
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Notice / Correction
"Sculpture is the art of giving life to stone, preserving the soul's spark when the body turns to dust."

Archival Overview

Supreme French portrait sculptor of the Enlightenment whose vivid marble busts captured Voltaire, Diderot, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington with intense psychological realism.

Biographical Record

Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828 CE) won the Prix de Rome and mastered human anatomy by dissecting corpses at Saint-Louis hospital in Rome.

Traveled to Mount Vernon in 1785 with Benjamin Franklin to make life masks of George Washington, creating the definitive marble statue in the Virginia State Capitol that defined the American founder's image.

Key Life Milestones

1778

The Seated Voltaire

Sculpted the elderly Voltaire at the Théâtre-Français, capturing the philosopher's ironic smile and piercing intellect.

1785

The Statue of George Washington

Traveled across the Atlantic to Virginia, sculpting George Washington as a modern Cincinnatus resigning power.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Montparnasse Cemetery
Paris, France
GPS: 48.8406, 2.3278
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