The Smiling Man

model possibly 1830s, cast 1944/1950

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    bronze

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 8 x 6.2 x 6.3 cm (3 1/8 x 2 7/16 x 2 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1951.17.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(J. Falk-Jensen, Athenaeum Kunsthandel, Copenhagen), by January 1951;[1] sold 21 February 1951 to Lessing Julius Rosenwald, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania;[2] gift 1951 to NGA.
[1] Correspondence of 12 January-16 February 1951 between Elizabeth Mongan, Haavard Rostrup (curator, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek), and J. Falk-Jensen, Athenaeum Kunsthandel, Copenhagen; Rosenwald Papers, NGA Archives, Box 47. The heads are never overtly described, but internal evidence in the correspondence clearly indicates that they are casts of the two models just purchased for the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and awaiting publication by its curator.
[2] Date of purchase recorded in annotation on 16 February 1951 letter referenced in note 1, and a list of Rosenwald purchases for February 1951; Rosenwald Papers, NGA Archives, Box 44. Also, Elizabeth Mongan to Henri Petiet, 9 March 1951: "...John Rewald gave me a kind tip that there were two more unknown Daumier bronzes in Copenhagen. I did write for them, and we have bought them bringing our lot up to 38 [alluding to the thirty-six portrait busts]. I have not seen them as yet."; Rosenwald Papers, NGA Archives, Box 48.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1960

  • Honoré Daumier, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1960, no cat.

1969

  • Daumier Sculpture: A Critical and Comparative Study, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1969, no. 65b, repro., as Tête d'Homme Souriant (Head of a Smiling Man).

Bibliography

1952

  • Gobin, Maurice. Daumier Sculpteur, 1808-1879. Geneva, 1952: no. 38.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 150, as by Daumier.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 134, repro., as by Daumier.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 61, repro.

2000

  • Butler, Ruth, and Suzanne Glover Lindsay, with Alison Luchs, Douglas Lewis, Cynthia J. Mills, and Jeffrey Weidman. European Sculpture of the Nineteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 203-206, color repro.

Inscriptions

incised in the model, on right rear of collar: h.D.

Wikidata ID

Q63809605

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