Diana of Versailles, ca. 1820.

Italian school, ca. 1820. After JEAN-ANTOINE HOUDON (Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828).
Bust of "Diana of Versailles".
Carrara marble.
Apocryphal signature.
Measurements: 73 x 47 x 20 cm.

The classicist sculptor that concerns us reproduces faithfully in this bust in Carrara marble the Roman model of Diana, a copy of the Greek original that represented the Greek goddess of hunting Artemis. The Roman copy, known as Diana the Huntress or Diana with Hind, is preserved in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The bust shown here focuses on the beautiful face and the folds of the peplum that drape around the turgid breasts, as well as the headdress with diadem and the waves of the hair gathered in a bun. The copy in the art gallery shows the goddess full-length, in movement, with her left hand resting on the antlers of a small deer and her right hand on her quiver. The authorship of the original statue was long attributed to Leocares, although Praxiteles has also been proposed as the author of the Greek bronze.

The neoclassical sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon made several versions of the goddess Diana. The bust in question is based on Houdon's marble Diana preserved in the National Gallery in London. It dates from 1778, and a waning quarter moon adorns her head. Along with the bow and arrow, the moon is an attribute of the Roman goddess (the Greek Artemis), the goddess of the hunt being a lunar divinity. Likewise, the moon is an emblem of chastity. The feminine features convey a powerful and haughty temperament, both in the original and in the excellent version shown here, also made in white marble. Diana's turgid breasts are exposed naked and her head is turned to her right side, gazing into the distance. Her kinky hair is gathered with the crescent-shaped comb, her emblem. A full-length Diana by Houdon (Diana the Huntress, 1776) is preserved in the Louvre Museum.
Jean-Antoine Houdon was a French sculptor, a leading figure of the neoclassicism of his country. He stood out in his portraits by the search for individual character, which brought him closer to pre-Romanticism. A disciple of Jean-Baptiste Pigalle and Lemoyne, in 1764 he moved to Rome to complete his training. He devoted himself mainly to portraits, beginning the series with one of Diderot, in terracotta, followed by those of Mirabeau, D'Alembert, Molière, Voltaire, Rousseau and Franklin. The latter suggested to him the idea of traveling to the United States to portray Washington. Houdon arrived on the American continent in 1785 and, in addition to several busts of the president, he created the statue currently on display in the Capitol. During the French Revolution, he painted the faces of Necker, Lafayette and Napoleon.