Poetry and Music
c. 1774/1778
Sculptor, French, 1738 - 1814
West Building Main Floor, East Sculpture Hall
Artwork overview
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Medium
marble
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 117.6 x 89.1 x 56 cm (46 5/16 x 35 1/16 x 22 1/16 in.)
gross weight: 390.093 kg (860 lb.) -
Accession
1952.5.98
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Commissioned by Abbé Joseph-Marie Terray [1715-1778], Paris; by inheritance to his nephew and heir, Antoine-Jean Terray, vicomte de Roziéres [1750-1794], Hôtel d'Aumont, Paris, and Château de La Motte-Tilly, near Nogent-sur-Seine; (estate sale of the elder Terray, at the Hôtel d'Aumont by F.C. Joullain & Sons, 20 January 1779, no. 27, withdrawn).[1] Marquis Joseph-Henri Costa de Beauregard [1752-1824], Château de Beauregard, Savoy. his great-grandson, Marquis Charles-Albert Costa de Beauregard [1835-1909], La Motte-Servolex, Savoy. (Charles J. Wertheimer [1842-1911], London).[2] David David-Weill [1871-1952], Neuilly-sur-Seine, by 1921;[3] consigned to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); purchased 1949 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1952 to NGA.
[1] The early provenance was first discussed in detail by Ulrich Middeldorf, Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century, London, 1976: 105-106, no. 1674, entry by Charles Avery. Later, in several publications based on archival documentation, Colin B. Bailey provided more complete details: "Mécénat privé? Mécénat public? L'abbé Terray, collectionneur de sculptures contemporaines," In Clodion et la sculpture française de la fin du XVIIIe siècle, Actes du colloque organisé au musée du Louvre par le service culturel les 20 et 21 mars 1992, Paris, 1993: 189-222; "The abbé Terray: An Enlightened Patron of Modern Sculpture." The Burlington Magazine 135, no. 1079 (February 1993): 121-132, esp. 125, 126 fig. 75. Abbé Terray was controller general of finances under the French king Louis XV from 1769 to 1774; his nephew and heir was Intendant of Montauban and Lyon, and a victim of the French Revolution.
[2] For these three names, Charles Avery's entry (see note 1) references a "written communication from Duveen's and M. Minet, secretary to Madame D. David-Weill, Neuilly-Sur-Seine."
[3] See note 2, and Louis Réau, "Une statue de Pigalle retrouvée: la Moisonneuse ou l’Abondance.” Revue de l'Art ancien et modern 39 (January 1921): 62.
[4] Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Series II.A, Files regarding works of art: reel 86, box 231, folder 14, Clodion, Poetry and Music, Vestal or Goddess of Fire, marble groups; Series II.I, Collectors’ files, reel 297, box 442, folder 2, Pierre David-Weill; copies in NGA curatorial files.The Duveen bill of sale to the Kress Foundation is dated 28 June 1949; copy in NGA curatorial files.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1940
French XVIIIth Century Sculpture formerly of the David-Weill Collection, Wildenstein & Co., New York, April 1940, no. 39.
1974
Nineteenth-Century Sculpture, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1974, unnumbered checklist.
Bibliography
1877
Guiffrey, Jules. Les Caffieri. Paris, 1877: 221.
1885
Thirion, Henri. Les Adam et Clodion. Paris, 1885: 275, 391.
1910
Lami, Stanislas. Dictionnaire des Sculpteurs de l'Ecole française au dix-huitième siècle. 2 vols. Paris, 1910-1911: 2: 147.
1921
Réau, Louis. "Une statue de Pigalle retrouvée: la Moisonneuse ou l’Abondance.” Revue de l'Art ancien et modern 39 (January 1921): 50-62, esp. 62.
1925
Henriot, Gabriel. "La Collection David-Weill." L'Amour de l'Art (1925): 14.
1934
Réau, Louis. "Un sculpteur flamand francisé du XXVVVisiècle: Tassaert (1727-1788)." Revue belge d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Art 4 (1934): 289-309, esp. 298.
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: 260, no. 117, repro.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 452, repro.
Hodgkinson, Terence. "French Sculpture at Waddesdon." The Burlington Magazine 101, n. 676/677 (July-August 1959): 255-259, esp. 256.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 149.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 131, repro.
1970
Hodgkinson, Terence. Sculpture (The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor). London and Fribourg, 1970: 18-19.
1973
Scott, Barbara. "Charles Alexandre Calonne, Economist and Collector." Apollo (January 1973): 87, repro. fig. 2.
1976
Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 105.
1981
Katz, Lois, ed.. Finger Prints of the Artist: European Terra-Cotta Sculpture from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1981: repro. fig. 24.
1986
Ford, Terrence, compiler and ed. Inventory of Music Iconography, no. 1. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York 1986: no. 163.
1993
Bailey, Colin B. "Mécénat privé? Mécénat public? L'abbé Terray, collectionneur de sculptures contemporaines." In Clodion et la sculpture française de la fin du XVIIIe siècle. Actes du colloque organisé au musée du Louvre par le service culturel les 20 et 21 mars 1992. Paris, 1993: 202-203, fig. 6, 219 n. 35.
Bailey, Colin B. "The abbé Terray: An Enlightened Patron of Modern Sculpture." The Burlington Magazine 135, no. 1079 (February 1993): 121-132, esp. 125, 126 fig. 75.
1994
Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 46, 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.
2004
Gopnik, Blake. "A Very Full Week at the National Gallery, Five Full Days of Permanent Pleasure." The Washington Post (27 December 2004): C1, C2, repro.
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: 66, fig. 93, 75 (not in the exhibition).
2023
Dickerson, C.D. III and Robert Price. "Restoring Sculpture in Paris After and Before the French Revolution." Daphne Barbour, ed., Facture. Conservation, Science, Art History 6 (2023):120-151, repro. i (detail), 123.
De Margerie, Laure. French Sculpture: An American Passion. Ghent, 2023: 269-270, fig. 33.
Wikidata ID
Q63809334