Monday, February 2, 2015

Clodion Venus

Minton & Company
Clodion Venus
terracotta-tinted Parian porcelain
English
1873

The famous Clodion Venus (above) now in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, began life as a manufacturer's sample-piece. The challenge was to produce a porcelain-glazed portrait-bust in the spirit of the traditional European terracotta portrait-bust, a popular format that had flourished since the early Renaissance. The examples below (some from the V&A, some from the Getty) demonstrate the level of refinement achieved in this narrow and specialized sculptural genre. Yet the Clodion Venus remains unique in one respect, as the only object among those here that partakes of that special, coy, modern approach to image-making known in 20th century jargon as 'cheesecake.'

Lucas Faydherbe
Hercules
Belgian
1640s

Bust of a man
French
second half of the 18th century

Aimé-Jules Dalou
Miss Helen Ionides
English
1879

Pierre Merard
Unknown man
French
1786

Michel-Jean Sedaine
Augustin Pajou
French
1775

John Bacon
Unkonwn elderly man
English
c. 1770-99

Alessandro Algardi
Cardinal Paolo Emilio Zacchia
Italian
c. 1650

Watcombe Terracotta Clay Company
Charity
English
c. 1869-76

Michel Erhart
Head of a young man (back view)
German
c. 1480