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John Paul Jones

1781
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
A celebrated naval hero of the American Revolution, Jones traveled with Benjamin Franklin to Versailles in 1780. In this portrait, he wears the cross of the French Order of Military Merit that Louis XVI awarded him. Abigail Adams, wife of American statesman John Adams, described the sitter as small of stature, well proportioned, polite, enterprising, and ambitious, qualities Houdon skillfully expressed here. Jones ordered multiple plaster casts of the bust for friends.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: John Paul Jones
  • Artist: Jean Antoine Houdon (French, Versailles 1741–1828 Paris)
  • Date: 1781
  • Medium: Marble
  • Dimensions: 22 1/2 × 21 × 12 in., 400 lb. (57.2 × 53.3 × 30.5 cm, 181.4 kg)
    With base: 27 9/16 × 21 × 12 in. (70 × 53.3 × 30.5 cm)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: United States Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis (1958.6)
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts