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Minerva

1766
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 552
The entertaining French sculptor Claude Michel—called Clodion— spent nine years in Italy (1762–71), where he attended the French Academy in Rome and studied important collections of antiquities. Instructed by Charles-Joseph Natoire, director of the French Academy, to study sculpture by making clay copies instead of drawing, Clodion soon perfected a type of highly finished small terracotta sculpture popular with eighteenth-century collectors. Minerva combines the features of several ancient marbles, most importantly the Minerva Giustiniani in the Vatican. Clodion depicts the goddess of wisdom and the arts wearing a helmet, Greek chiton and mantle draped over her left shoulder and wrapped around her waist. Her raised right hand once held a spear (now lost). Her lowered left hand steadies a shield with quilted padding and arm straps on the inside; a delicately incised head of Medusa appears on the other side, probably added to the damp clay before finishing, along with Clodion's signature at the base.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Minerva
  • Artist: Clodion (Claude Michel) (French, Nancy 1738–1814 Paris)
  • Date: 1766
  • Culture: French, modeled Italy, Rome
  • Medium: Terracotta
  • Dimensions: Height: 18 3/4 in. (47.6 cm)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Charles Ulrick and Josephine Bay Foundation Inc. Gift, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.312.6
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Children and satyr children leading a goat to sacrifice (part of a group), Clodion (Claude Michel) French, Stucco, French, Paris
Children and satyr children leading a goat to sacrifice (part of a group)
Clodion (Claude Michel)
ca. 1781
The Vestal, Clodion (Claude Michel) French, Terre de Lorraine, French, Lorraine
The Vestal
Clodion (Claude Michel)
ca. 1770
Girl holding fruit, Clodion (Claude Michel) French, Terracotta, French
Girl holding fruit
Clodion (Claude Michel)
probably after model of 1780s
Five-light candelabrum (one of a pair), Clodion (Claude Michel) French, Gilt and patinated bronze, serpentine marble, French
Five-light candelabrum (one of a pair)
Clodion (Claude Michel)
ca. 1785
Children and Satyr Children Sporting with a Goat, Clodion (Claude Michel) French, Terracotta, French, Paris
Children and Satyr Children Sporting with a Goat
Clodion (Claude Michel)
ca. 1781

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