James Baquet

    When I lived in southern California, I often visited the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. I was fortunate to have such a world-class institution just a few minutes from my family’s home. The original owner, Henry E. Huntington, had been a railroad magnate, and spent much of his wealth collecting art, as well as rare books and manuscripts. The period in which he was most interested was the 18th century, the period of this week’s columns.

    One of the pieces I was always sure to visit is a sculpture of a little girl with her hair up in curls, and flaws in the marble that make it appear as though her cheeks are dirty! It is 4-year-old “Sabine Houdon.” It turns out that Sabine was one of three daughters of the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828), all of whom were frequent subjects of their father’s chisel.

    But Houdon was much more than just a “family photographer in stone.” His subjects included French king Louis XVI (in the early days of the French Revolution), and Napoleon Bonaparte (after it). He also sculpted the French philosophers and writers Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, and Moliere; and American leaders Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson.

    Readers might know that both Franklin and Jefferson spent time in Paris, but Washington never crossed the Atlantic. So how did Houdon sculpt him? In fact, Franklin invited him to America, where he visited the future president at his home, Mount Vernon, in 1785. Prior to this, Houdon had spent 10 years studying in Rome. Back in Paris, he met Franklin and Scottish-American naval hero John Paul Jones at a meeting of Freemasons, which ultimately led to his invitation.

    During the French Revolution, Houdon’s connections to the royal court led the public to consider him suspect, but he escaped imprisonment — and rose to favor again in the subsequent regimes, including the Napoleonic Empire.

    He died in Paris in 1828, during the reign of Charles X in the Bourbon Restoration.

    Vocabulary

    Which word above means:

    1. period during which someone rules a country

    2. tool struck with a hammer in order to cut stone or wood

    3. one of the very best in the world

    4. times of rule by a particular government

    5. related to plants

    6. related to boats or ships, especially those used in war

    7. powerful, often rich person, a businessman similar to a tycoon

    8. handwritten documents