FRENCH SCULPTURE CENSUS / RÉPERTOIRE DE SCULPTURE FRANÇAISE CLODION, Claude MICHEL, called Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle 1738 - Paris 1814 Vestale portant un vase et faisant une libation au- dessus d'un trépied A Vestal 1770 marble statue 5 9 3 37 ?8 x 16 ?16 x 13 ?4; weight: 195 lb on back of base: CLODION. inv. fecit Romae. 1770 Acc. No.: 1952.5.99 Credit Line: Samuel H. Kress Collection Photo credit: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington © Artist : Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, The National Gallery of Art www.nga.gov Provenance Probably Catherine II of Russia (1729-1796), Saint Petersburg Prince Gregory Alexandrovich Potemkin his grand niece, Darja Nikolajewna Lopouchina, Moscow before 1904, W.N. Isakoff, Kiev before 1925, David David-Weill (1871-1952), Neuilly-sur-Seine 1937, sold to Wildenstein & Co. 1940, New York, Wildenstein, exhibited with the David-Weill collection for sale 1949, Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York 1952, gift to the National Gallery of Art, Washington Bibliography Museum's website, 22 July 2011 1925 Henrist Gabriel Henrist, "La Collection David-Weill", L'Amour de l'Art, 1925, p. 14 1951 NGA Washington Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951, p. 258, n. 116, repr. 1959 NGA Washington Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959, p. 451, repr. 1965 NGA Washington Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965, p. 149 1968 NGA Washington European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968, p. 132, repr. 1974 Hodgkinson Terence Hodgkinson, "A Clodion Statuette in the National Gallery of Canada", Bulletin, The National Gallery of Canada 24, 1974, p. 13-21 1976 Middeldorf Ulrich Middeldorf, Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century, London, 1976, p. 106 1984 Walker John Walker, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Rev. ed, New York, 1984, p. 645, n. 1017, repr. 1992 Scherf Guilhem Scherf, "Clodion en Italie: 1762-1771", Dossier de l'Art, avril-mai 1992, p. 6-9, repr. 1994 NGA Washington Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994, p. 47, repr. 2005 Wildenstein The Arts of France from François Ier to Napoléon Ier. A Centennial Celebration of Wildenstein's Presence in New York, Exhibition catalogue Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, 2005, p. 65, fig. 92, p. 75 (not in the exhibition). Exhibitions 1940 New York French XVIIIth Century formerly of the David-Weill Collection, Wildenstein & Co., New York, April 1940, n. 37 1974 Washington Nineteenth-Century Sculpture, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1974, unnumbered Related works After a Roman antique statue of Vestal in Florence, Uffizi. Priestess, small model in terracotta, by Clodion, 1768, Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art. A French bronze group of a Vestal at a pyre, cast by Graux-Marly, third quarter of 19th century, Christie's sale in New York, 26 October 2004. Comment Curatorial file in NGA, 25 July 2011: The type form which this statue derives is common in Antique (Hellenistic) art. [See Salomon Reinach, Répertoire de la tatuaire Grecque et Romaine, Paris, 1897, I, p. 456 for several examples]. While using the heavy drapery and outward iconographical details of a Hellenestic figure, Clodion has enlivened his figure with grace and charm. The pose (left leg straight, right leg bent) is common, and yet the various manipulations of the drapery enhance its suppleness. For instance, the diagonals of the drapery emphasizes the backward movement of her right leg, but stability is achieved by the one counter diagonal and the vertical folds of the tunic between her feet. Most of the movement is to her right, and yet balance is maintained by the accent of the vase to her left and the support of the altar to her right. In short, the composition is carefully and most successfull worked out..