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A monochrome, pale terracotta rendering of a young woman carrying a baby on her left shoulder

A young woman smiles as she walks, holding the hand of a baby that she balances on her left shoulder. She wears a light, sleeveless dress that extends to the ground, but is open at the knees. In her left hand, she holds against her hip a round tray, upon which are laurels and roses formed into wreaths. She wears a ribbon on her head and her long wavy hair is pulled back, falling around her neck. The baby sits with one leg on each side of her neck, leaning forward and gesturing with a raised left hand.

Gallery Text

Though never elected to full membership in the Academy, Clodion was one of the most esteemed sculptors of the eighteenth century, and during his first residence in Rome he shared a studio with Jean-Antoine Houdon. Clodion worked frequently with terracotta, or baked clay, a material that was traditionally used by sculptors to explore ideas for larger projects in more expensive materials; it was highly prized by collectors around the middle of the eighteenth century for its sketchy, provisional qualities. Clodion responded to the growing market for terracotta sculpture by producing numerous small-scale works such as these. Toward the end of the century, he favored groups with inverted poses, such as these two figures carrying putti on opposite shoulders and turning in opposite directions, and he embraced the neoclassical style, basing the figures’ drapery and hairstyles on ancient models.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1978.40
People
Claude Michel, called Clodion, French (Nancy, France 1738 - 1814 Paris, France)
Title
Young Woman Carrying a Child on Her Left Shoulder
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Young Girl Carrying a Child on her Left Shoulder / Maiden in Classical drapery, with garlands on a tray and a putto on her shoulder / Young Girl Dressed in Antique Style, Carrying a Child on her Shoulder / Girl Carrying a Child
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
1790-1800
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/227915

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2220, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, Rococo and Neoclassicism in the Eighteenth Century
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
41.8 x 16 x 18.2 cm (16 7/16 x 6 5/16 x 7 3/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: incised into top of integral base: CLODION
  • label: bottom of base, black ink on red and white paper label, handwritten: T.K.S.
  • label: bottom of base?, paper: L55.56.1 [removed by conservation, 1985]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Comtesse Montesquiou-Fezensac, Paris, sold [through her sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris. No. 122]. Carlos G. de Candamo, sold [through Galerie Charpentier, no. 71, 1934]. Therese Kuhn (Mrs. Herbert N.) Straus, New York, NY, gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1978.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Therese Kuhn Straus in memory of her husband, Herbert N. Straus, Harvard Class of 1903
Accession Year
1978
Object Number
1978.40
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Henri Thirion, Les Adam et Clodion, A. Quantin (Paris, France, 1885), p. 408
  • French Painting and Sculpture of the XVIII Century, exh. cat., Plantin Press (New York, NY, 1935), no. 102
  • Anne Poulet and Guilhem Scherf, Clodion 1738-1814, exh. cat., Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 1992), p. 385, repr. as fig. 203

Exhibition History

  • French Painting and Sculpture of the XVIII Century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 11/06/1935 - 01/05/1936
  • Exhibition of the Mrs. Herbert N. Straus Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 05/13/1978 - 06/17/1978
  • Re-View: S424-426 Western Art from 1560 to 1900, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/16/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 2220 18th-19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Collection Highlights
  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu