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

A young woman laughs as she walks, carrying a small child on her right shoulder. She wears a light, sleeveless robe, open at the knee, as she steps forward with her right foot. Her robe drapes over itself where it is gathered across her mid-section. She reaches up and behind her with both hands to balance the wriggling child, who kicks forward with one foot and raises one hand excitedly, gripping the young woman’s head with the other.

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
1978.41
People
Claude Michel, called Clodion, French (Nancy, France 1738 - 1814 Paris, France)
Title
Young Woman Carrying a Child on Her Right Shoulder
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Young Girl Carrying a Child on her Right 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/227916

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
43.8 x 13 x 13 cm (17 1/4 x 5 1/8 x 5 1/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: incised into back of base: CLODION
  • label: bottom of base, black ink on red and white paper label, handwritten: T.K.S.
  • label: bottom of base?, paper: L55.56.2 [removed by conservation, 1985]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Comtesse Montesquiou-Fezensac, Paris, sold [through her sale, Hôtel Drouot, no. 122, Paris]. Carlos G. de Candamo, sold [through Galerie Charpentier, no. 71, Paris, 1934]. Therese Kuhn (Mrs. Herbert N.) Straus, New York, NY, gift; to 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
1978.41
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. 103
  • Eugene F. Farrell, Henry Lie, and Suzanne M. M. Young, "Clay Analysis", Harvard University Art Museums Bulletin, ed. Ivan Gaskell and Henry Lie, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, Spring 1999), VI, 3, 39-47, p. 43

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

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