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Playing with Fire: European Terracotta Models, 1740–1840

Draper, James David, and Guilhem Scherf, with Magnus Olausson, Elena Karpova, Bernhard Maaz, Roberta J. M. Olson, and Burkard von Roda (2003)

This title is out of print.

Description

The Neoclassical period in Europe produced a host of gifted sculptors of whom it has sometimes been remarked that their clay models exhibit more spirit than their finished marbles. Sketches and models of terracotta (clay that has been baked for greater longevity) are much like drawings in offering extraordinary insights into the creative process. A pan-European practice, modeling was centered in Rome, site of the collections of antiquities that were the chief inspiration of artists.

This publication offers the first comprehensive overview of Neoclassical modeling in the years from 1740 to 1840. The catalogue, numbering 142 objects, analyzes modeling at every stage, from the brusque preliminary impulse of the artist to the highly finished statuettes that were regarded as works of art in their own right. Many of the greatest names are represented here: from France, Bouchardon, Pigalle, Pajou, Houdon, Roland, Clodion, Stouf, and Chinard; from Germany, Dannecker and Schadow; from Italy, Canova and Pacetti; from Sweden, the magnificent Sergel. Some artists are examined in considerable depth, with as many as nine works. Lesser-known talents who merit greater attention and emerge heroically are the Swiss Sonnenschein and the Russians Kozlovsky and Martos.

The sections of the catalogue, each preceded by an introductory essay, examine the sculptors' techniques and training and explore prominent themes, such as terracotta's role in the statuary of Great Men and in tomb sculpture, depictions of Arcadia and the loves of the gods, scenes from the Iliad and Ovid's Metamorphoses. Special attention is paid to the ancient visual and literary sources that motivated these generations of discerning and erudite sculptors. Short biographies of all of the artists discussed are included.

Table of contents

Directors' Forewords
List of Lenders
Acknowledgments
Authors of the Catalogue

"Terracotta is the concern of genius": Connoisseurs and Collectors of Terracottas
Guilhem Scherf

Neoclassical Modeling in Its International Context
James David Draper

Catalogue

1. Sculptors and Their Methods

Visualizing the Modeler (cat. nos. 1–5)
Sketches, Models, Reductions, and Independent Works
Terracottas and Unfired Clay Works (cat. nos. 6–8)
Sketches and Models (cat. nos. 9–22)
Independent Works (cat. nos. 23–30)

2. The Sculptor's Training

Academic Exercises
Studies (cat. nos. 31–32)
Prizes (cat. nos. 33–38)
Morceaux de Réception (cat. nos. 39–40)
Reference to the Antique (cat. nos. 23–30)

3. Typologies

The Monument (cat. nos. 50–59)
Reliefs (cat. nos. 60–70)
Group Aesthetics: Men and Centaurs (cat. nos. 71–78)

4. Subjects from Fable and Myth

Arcadia, the Loves of the Gods, and Cupid (cat. nos. 79–95)
Heroes and Heroism (cat. nos. 96–108)

5. Some Leading Preoccupations

Great Men (cat. nos. 109–115)
Funerary Sculpture (cat. nos. 116–127)
Genre Sculpture (cat. nos. 128–133)
Religious Subjects (cat. nos. 134–142)

Artists' Biographies
Bibliography
Index
Photograph Credits

About the authors

James David Draper is Henry R. Kravis Curator, Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. He is the author of Bertoldo de Giovanni: Sculptor of the Medici Household (1992) and Pajou, Royal Sculptor, 1730–1809 (1997), with Guilhem Scherf.

Guilhem Scherf is Conservateur en Chef, Département des Sculptures, Musée du Louvre, Paris. Among his publications are Clodion (1992), with Anne L. Poulet, and Pajou, Royal Sculptor, 1730–1809 (1997), with James David Draper.

Press reviews

Choice Reviews Online

"This work offers readers a comprehensive overview of European neoclassical clay modeling. ... very scholarly presentation. Written by outstanding scholars ... Highly recommended."

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