Giuseppe Balsamo, Comte di Cagliostro
1786
Artist, French, 1741 - 1828
Houdon, among the greatest portraitists in history, may have met the Comte di Cagliostro through the Masonic order, of which both men were prominent members. Cagliostro's persuasive claims to extraordinary healing skills and alchemical powers won him an international following. The sculptor shows him gazing skyward, his lips parted as if in communion with the heavens, suggesting the personality that could persuade devotees of his ability to perform miraculous cures, conduct mystic Egyptian rites, and turn base metals into gold. The collar falling restlessly open was typical of portraits of artists and scholars, while the double chin and straining buttons betray a taste for the opulent life.
West Building Main Floor, Gallery 56
Artwork overview
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Medium
marble
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall without base: 62.9 x 58.9 x 34.3 cm (24 3/4 x 23 3/16 x 13 1/2 in.)
gross weight: 285 lb. (129.275 kg) -
Accession
1952.5.103
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Possibly (sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 22-24 November 1826, no. 208, as Un Buste en marbre de Cagliostro par M. Houdon).[1] Sir Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th marquess of Hertford [1800-1870], London and Paris; by inheritance to his illegitimate son, Sir Richard Wallace [1818-1890], London and Paris; by inheritance to his wife, Julie-Amélie-Charlotte Castelnau, Lady Wallace [1819-1897], Paris and London; by bequest to the Wallace's secretary and adviser, Sir John Murray Scott [1847-1912], London and Paris; by bequest to his friend, Josephine Victoria Sackville-West, Lady Sackville [1864-1936], Paris; sold 1914 to (Jacques Seligmann & Cie, Paris and New York);[2] purchased February 1952 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1952 to NGA.
[1] Anne L. Poulet, Jean-Antoine Houdon: Sculptor of the Enlightenment, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Musée et domaine national du château de Versailles, Washington, D.C., 2003: 125.
[2] The direct transfer from Sir John Murray Scott to Lady Sackville and then to Jacques Seligmann is described in Germain Seligman's book Merchants of Art, New York, 1961: 98-99. The sculpture was Seligmann Paris stock no. 7969 and New York stock no. 2205 (Archives of American Art, Seligmann Papers, NY Stock Catalogues, Box 280, folder 8, copy in NGA curatorial files). Germain Seligmann, manager of Seligmann's New York branch, is listed as the owner in the catalogue of the 1932 exhibition of French art in London, and in Robert Cecil's 1950 article, "The Remainder of the Hertford and Wallace Collections," Burlington Magazine, XCII (June 1950): 170, no. 24. The bust was in Paris when the Nazis invaded in 1940 and was confiscated with other portions of the Seligmann family collections at that time. It was recovered and returned to France in 1947. Correspondence concerning Germain Seligmann's efforts to have the bust shipped from France to the United States beginning in 1948 can be found in the Seligmann papers, Archives of American Art, Box 141 (copies in NGA curatorial files).
[3] The invoice for the purchase of the bust was included with a letter of 8 February 1952 from Seligmann's New York branch to the Kress Foundation (copy in NGA curatorial files). The bust was sent to Washington from New York a week later.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1883
L'Art au XVIIIe siècle, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1883-1884, no. 250.
1888
Possibly Exposition de l'art français sous Louis XIV et sous Louis XV, Ecole des beaux-arts, Hôtel de Chimay, Paris, 1888, no. 77.
1908
Cent pastels du XVIIIe siècle et bustes, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1908, no. 212.
1932
Exhibition of French Art 1200-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1932, no. 1005.
1974
Nineteenth-Century Sculpture, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1974, unnumbered checklist.
1976
The Eye of Thomas Jefferson, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1976, no. 228.
Bibliography
1908
Schemit, Jean. "Catalogue critique des sculptures." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art français (1908): 173-175, 357-360, repro.
Lemoisne, Paul André. "Exposition de cent pastels et bustes du XVIIIe siècle." Les Arts 82 (October 1908): 2-32, repro.
1919
Giacometti, Georges. Le statuaire Jean-Antoine Houdon: et son époque (1741-1828). 3 vols. Paris, 1919: 2:97-98.
1929
Giacometti, Georges. La vie et l'oeuvre de Houdon. 2 vols. Paris, 1928: 1:26, repro.
1950
Cecil, Robert. "The Remainder of the Hertford and Wallace Collections." The Burlington Magazine 92 (June 1950): 168-172, fig. 19, 24.
1956
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 236, no. 95, repro.
Walker, John. "The Nation's Newest Old Masters." The National Geographic Magazine 110, no. 5 (November 1956): 657, repro.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 457, repro.
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: 193, repro. pl. 182-183.
1964
Réau, Louis. Houdon: Sa vie et son oeuvre. Paris, 1964: 27-28, no. 95, repro. pl. XLVI.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 158.
Cecil, R.A. "French Eighteenth Century Sculpture formerly in the Hertford-Wallace Collection." Apollo 81 (June 1965): 449-459, repro.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 140, repro.
1976
Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 111.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 645, no. 1015, repro.
1994
Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 109, repro.
Stafford, Barbara Maria. Artful Science: Enlightenment Entertainment and the Eclipse of Visual Education. Cambridge, MA, 1994: repro. 124.
1997
Craske, Matthew. Art in Europe 1700-1830: A History of the Visual Arts in an Era of Unprecedented Urban Economic Growth. Oxford, 1997: 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.
2003
Poulet, Anne L. Jean-Antoine Houdon: Sculptor of the Enlightenment. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Musée et domaine national du château de Versailles. Washington, D.C., 2003: 123-126, no. 14.
Houdon: Sculpteur des Lumières. Exh. cat. Musée National du Château de Versailles, France; National Gallery of Art, Washington; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2003: 125, repro.
2006
Scherf, Guilhem. Houdon 1741-1828: Statues, portraits, sculptés... Paris, 2006: n. 19.
2023
De Margerie, Laure. French Sculpture: An American Passion. Ghent, 2023: 251, fig. 12, 252.
Inscriptions
on truncated right arm: houdon / f. / 1786. (in script)
Wikidata ID
Q63809774