![]() ![]() More importantly, the work had a lasting impact on Houdon's own career and, as Poulet explains, "his preoccupation with the accurate observation and depiction of the bones and muscles as well as the exterior surface of the human body eventually led him to use life and death masks for his closely observed portraits". The work was enthusiastically received and became used as a model for other students at his school. We were the only people from the academy to follow this course, and we profited all the more for it". Séguier, professor of surgery, gave us a lesson in anatomy on cadavers for which the king paid. Actively seeking training in this field, his fellow student Johann Christian von Mannlich explained how the two young men went, "to Saint-Louis des Français where M. ![]() Evidence of Houdon's keen interest in human anatomy is in abundance here. It also provides a splendid example of the Ancient Greek influence on the Neoclassical style which Houdon usually adopted here with the contrapposto stance of the figure as well as arms raised that are reminiscent of the classic works Lysippos's Apoxyomenos (330 BC) and Polykleitos's Doryphoros (450-440 BC). This version is more refined, with the right arm raised more dramatically and the figure freed from the tree trunk base against which he was originally rested. The first version of L'Ecorché was made in 1767 while Houdon was a student in Rome and was the basis for a sculpture of Saint John the Baptist (a separate sculpture he completed in the same year). Poulet states, "Houdon's figure of an Ecorché is one his earliest, most famous, and most widely reproduced works". ![]() In describing the impact of this work, art historian Anne L. A striking anatomical figure, his entire muscular system is exposed as he stands with left foot forward and right leg slightly bent his right hand is raised up and reaching out in an almost healing gesture. Houdon's L'Ecorché is a life-size sculpture of a flayed man. It was a trait that celebrated artisanship and brought a touch of character to the normally idealistic Neoclassical style. In either case, Houdon demonstrated his preference for naturalism by leaving toolmark traces in his sculptures (rather than polishing them out). He often took full charge of his own repetitions, or he might put final touches to his assistants' work. Houdon was a consummate technician who preferred to model in clay, although subsequent versions of an original cast would typically be rendered in either marble, bronze, or plaster.Houdon had demonstrated through works like Diana (mythological), Winter (allegorical) and his monument to George Washington (in modern dress), that the progressive ideas of the Age of Enlightenment could impact on the classical arts too. Complementing his busts, Houdon produced a number of statutes to which he brought a modern twist.These realistic features raised the bar for contemporary and future generations of sculptors. He mastered a technique which involved carving a depression in his sitter's iris, and modeling a concave that highlighted the eye's pupil with a small fragment of marble overhanging the iris. Audiences were transfixed by the way he modelled the eyes in a way that seemed to bring the sculptured figures to life. Houdon's busts were distinguishable by his subjects' gaze.The figure introduced to the world the Frenchman's lifelong concern for physiognomic accuracy in the muscles, bones and exterior covering of the human body. Early in his career, Houdon produced what would become one of the most widely reproduced sculpted works in history a figure that has been used ever since in art academies and ateliers to teach students human anatomy and cast drawings.Between them, the two men revitalized the craft of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. Whereas Canova mostly produced works on a mythical theme, Houdon is better remembered for his portraits of modern democratic thinkers. Houdon, with the Italian Antonio Canova, emerged as the leading sculptor of eighteenth and nineteenth century Neoclassical movement. ![]()
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