Venus of the Doves

Etienne-Maurice Falconet

Artist, French, 1716 - 1791

A seated woman with upswept hair is flanked by two chubby male children in this free-standing, white marble sculpture. In this photograph of the sculpture, the woman’s body faces us, and the rectangular base on which they sit is angled slightly away from us to our left. The woman sits in half of an oversized, upturned clam shell with her legs angled to our right. Her near leg is outstretched while the other bends at the knee. Her toga-like garment leaves her near breast exposed and wraps around her back to cover her lower torso and lap. She looks down to the winged boy closest to us, to our left, who half-stands and half-kneels at her side. He holds her hand and kisses the back of it, as he turns his face toward us. Two doves near the boy nestle in the drapery on which the woman sits, their beaks interlocked. On the woman’s other side, to our right, the second boy sits in the shell by her feet. He leans back to look up at her with his mouth open, as he grabs her garment with one hand. Two sea creatures with gaping mouths support the undulating curves of the shell.

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 55

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    marble

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 75.1 x 71.3 x 45.7 cm (29 9/16 x 28 1/16 x 18 in.)
    gross weight: 372 lb. (168.738 kg)

  • Accession

    1952.5.101

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

M. de Périgny;[1] (sale, Paris, 6-7 April 1841, no. 119, as by Bouchardon). Duc de Cambacerès, Paris. (Wildenstein & Co., New York); acquired 1946 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1952 to NGA.
[1] The names of Comte de Parabère and Comte de Trudaine were included in the provenance provided by Wildenstein but, according to Ulrich Middeldorf, Complete Catalogue of the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Sculptures XIV-XIX Century, 1976, p. 109, neither they nor the Duc de Cambacerès could be further identified.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1973

  • François Boucher in North American Collections: One Hundred Drawings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Art Institute of Chicago, 1973-1974, unnumbered brochure titled François Boucher: Influence and Versatility (shown only in Washington).

1984

  • In Quest of Excellence, Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, 1984.

  • Joseph Ternbach: Conservator - Collector, The Queens Museum, Flushing, New York, 1984-1985, no. 74, repro.

Bibliography

1894

  • Valabrègue, Antony. "Madame Falconet: Une artiste française en Russie." La vie contemporaine 3 (1894): 326-344.

1898

  • Vitry, Paul. "Deux statuettes françaises du sculpteur Pfaff (XVIIe siecle) au chateau de Monbijou, a Berlin." La revue de l'Art ancien et moderne 3 (1898): 155-162.

1923

  • Réau, Louis. "Une femme-sculpteur française au XVIIe siècle: Marie-Anne Collot (Madame Falconet)." L'Art et les artists 6 (1923): 165-171.

1931

  • Réau, Louis. "Les bustes de Marie-Anne Collot." La Renaissance 14 (1931): 306-312.

1951

  • 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: 254, no. 114, repro., as Madame de Pompadour as the Venus of the Doves.

1957

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 48.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 449, repro., as Madame de Pompadour as the Venus of the Doves.

1961

  • Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: pl. 177.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 154, as Madame de Pompadour as the Venus of the Doves.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 137, repro., as Madame de Pompadour as the Venus of the Doves.

1976

  • Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 109, fig. 186-187.

1990

  • Sporre, Dennis J. Reality through the Arts. Edgewood Cliffs, NJ, 1990: 267, repro.

1991

  • Bauer, Hermann and Hans Sedlmayr. Rokoko: Struktur und Wesen einer europäischen Epoche. Köln, 1991: 28, repro.

1993

  • Sporre, Dennis J. The Creative Impulse: An Introduction to the Arts. Edgewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1993: 359, fig. 12, 14.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 82, repro.

1999

  • Norman Herz, Katherine A. Holbrow and Shelley G. Sturman. "Marble Sculture in the National Gallery of Art: a Provenance Study." In Max Schvoerer, ed. Archéomatériaux: marbres et autres roches: ASMOSIA IV, Bordeaux, France 9-13 october 1995: actes de la IVème Conférence international de l’Association pour l’étude des marbres et autres roches utilizes dans le passé. Talence, 1999: 101-110.

2000

  • National Gallery of Art Special Issue. Connaissance des Arts. Paris, 2000: 61.

2005

  • Baillio, Joseph, et al. The Arts of France from François Ier to Napoléon Ier. A Centennial Celebration of Wildenstein's Presence in New York. Exh. cat. Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, 2005: 65, fig. 88, 75 (not in the exhibition).

2023

  • De Margerie, Laure. French Sculpture: An American Passion. Ghent, 2023: 250, fig. 11.

Wikidata ID

Q63809364

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