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Jean-François Ducis

Artist Augustin Pajou (French, 1730 - 1809)
Date1779
MediumTerracotta on marble socle
DimensionsOverall: 30 3/4 × 21 1/2 × 14 inches (78.11 × 54.61 × 35.56 cm)
Part (bust): 22 7/8 × 12 1/2 × 14 inches (58.1 × 31.75 × 35.56 cm)
Part (socle): 7 7/8 × 9 1/4 × 9 1/4 inches (20 × 23.5 × 23.5 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: acquired through the generosity of the McGreevy Family through the Westport Fund in honor of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Object numberF83-22
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 119
Collections
Exhibition History

Salon de 1779, Salon du Louvre, Paris, August 25–October 3, 1779, no. 196.

Exposition des Amis de Bagatelle, Le Musée de Bagatelle, Paris, 1905.

Exposition des Cent Pastels...et du bustes par Houdon, Pajou..., Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, May 18-June 10, 1908, no. 139.

A Magic Mirror: The Portrait in France, 1700 -1900, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 10, 1986-January 25, 1987, no. 17.

A Bountiful Decade: Selected Acquisitions, 1977–1987, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Mo., October 14–December 6, 1987, no. 53.

Gallery Label
Pajou was the favorite sculptor of Madame du Barry (1743-1793) the mistress of Louis XV, and his success owed a great deal to commissions received from the royal family. Among Pajou's finest works are portraits of his friends in literary and artistic circles, such as this portrait of Jean-François Ducis, the poet and playwright. Pajou's use of terracotta in this sculpture reflects the 18th-century appreciation for its decorative qualities, as much as for its practical uses. Clay had been used for centuries as a "sketching" medium to create models for finished works in bronze or marble, and it was easily transported. This sculpture by Pajou was never duplicated in another medium. The terracotta lends a certain warmth and informality to Pajou's portrait of his friend.
Provenance

Félix Doistau (1846-1936), by July 1905-June 9, 1909 [1];

Purchased at his sale, Tableaux et pastels…bustes en marbre et terre cuite par Pajou…Collections de M. Félix Doistau, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 9-11, 1909, lot 262, by Davis [2];

Edgard Stern (1854-1937), Paris, by 1912-1937 [3];

By inheritance to his wife, Marguerite Stern (née Fould, 1866-1956), Paris, 1937-no later than 1944;

Confiscated from Stern by German National Socialist (Nazi) forces, by 1944-July 1945 [4];

Recovered by Allied forces and taken to the Munich Central Collecting Point, July 1945-August 23, 1946 [5];

Returned by Allied forces to France, August 23, 1946-October 4, 1946;

Restituted to Marguerite Stern, Paris, October 4, 1946-1956 [6];

By descent through the Stern family, 1956-March 23, 1982;

Purchased at their sale, Succession de Monsieur S., Hôtel Drouot, Paris, March 23, 1982, lot 41, by Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, on joint account with Alex Wengraf, Ltd., London, 1982-1983 [7];

Purchased from Thomas Agnew and Sons and Alex Wengraf, Ltd. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1983.

NOTES:

[1] Doistau lent this sculpture to an exhibition at the Musée de Bagatelle in 1905. See Raymond Bouyer, “Le Musée de Bagatelle,” La Revue politique er littéraire: revue des cours littéraires… IV, no. 2 (July 8, 1905): 63.

[2] According to an annotated copy of the sales catalogue, Bibliothèque nationale de France: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1245816x/f90.item.r=%22galerie%20georges%20petit%22doistau

[3] The sculpture is described as in Stern’s collection in Henri Stein, Augustin Pajou (Paris: Librairie central des beaux-arts, 1912), 52-53, 409.

[4] This sculpture was removed from Stern’s home at 20, avenue Montaigne, Paris, and inventoried at the Jeu de Paume, Paris, by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg under the collection ‘C. St’. The date of the confiscation is not listed in the ERR records. It was transferred to the Nazi repository at the Neues Schloß, Herrenchiemsee, Germany, where it was inventoried as number 40 in crate K73. Copies of ERR and Allied documents are in the Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.

[5] Crate K73, in which the Pajou sculpture was stored, was included on an Allied inventory of crates at Herrenchiemsee dated July 11, 1945. The sculpture was transferred to the Hotel Kronprinz, garage #1, Prien, Germany, by September 30, 1945, and subsequently to the Munich Central Collecting Point on October 22, 1945, where it was assigned inventory number 11487. It was repatriated to France on August 23, 1946. Copies of Munich property cards are in the Nelson-Atkins curatorial file.

[6] Ministère de l’Europe et des affaires étrangers, Archives diplomatiques, Paris, Série CRA – Dossiers de reclamation adressés à la Commission de recuperation artistique (1939-1974), 209SUP/8, file 45.87, Liste des tableaux et objets d’art appartenant à Madame Edgard STERN, 29, rue Auguste Vacquerie, PARIS I6e, volés par les Allemands, retrouvés en Allemagne, restitués le 4 octobre 1946. Copies in Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.

[7] According to Patricia Wengraf, Patricia Wengraf, Ltd., in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, Specialist, Provenance, February 2, 2017, NAMA curatorial files and the National Gallery Library Archive, London, Thomas Agnew and Sons Archive, NGA27/1/4/7, sculpture stock book, 1979-2009.

Published References

Explication des peintures, sculptures et gravures, de Messieurs de l'Académie Royale , Dont l'Exposition a été ordonnée, suivant l'intention de Sa Majesté, par M. le Comte de la Billardrie d'Angiviller, Conseiller du Roi en ses Conseils, Mestre-de-Camp de Cavalerie, Chevalier de l' Ordre Royal & Militaire de S. Louis, Commandeur de l'Ordre de S. Lazare, Intendant du Jardin du Roi, Directeur & Ordonnateur-Général des Bâtimens de Sa Majesté, Jardins, Arts, Académies & Manufactures Royales; de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, exh. cat. (Paris: l’Imprimerie de la Venve Herissant, 1779), 38.

Raymond Bouyer, “Le Musée de Bagatelle,” Revue politique et littéraire, Revue Bleue IV, no. 2 (July 8, 1905): 63.

Exposition de Cent Pastels du XVIIIe siècle…et de Bustes par Houdon, Pajou…, exh. cat. (Paris: Galerie Georges Petit, 1908), 54.

Catalogue des…Objets d’art et d’ameublement...Collections de M. Felix Doistau...Bustes en marbre et terre cuite par Pajou (Paris: Galerie Georges Petit, June 9-11, 1909), 111, (repro.), as Jean-François Ducis.

Henri Stein, Augustin Pajou (Paris: Librairie central des beaux-arts, 1912), 52-53, 409, (repro.).

Succession de Monsieur S. Stern..., (Paris: Hotel Drouot, 1982).

Donald Hoffmann, "Two 18th-century French works to grace Nelson Gallery," The Kansas City Star (July 10, 1983), 11F, (repro.).

Roger Ward, ed., A Bountiful Decade: Selected Acquisitions, 1977-1987 , exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1987), 126-27, (repro.), as Jean François Ducis.

George T.M. Shackelford and Mary Tavener Holmes, A Magic Mirror: The Portrait in France 1700-1900, exh. cat. (Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1986), 66-67, 129, (repro.).

John Larson, “The Treatment and Examination of Painted Surfaces in Eighteenth-Century Terracotta Sculptures,” Cleaning, Retouching and Coatings: Technology and Practice for Easel Paintings and Polychrome Sculpture; Preprints of the Contributions to the Brussels Congress 3-7 (September 1990): 28-32, (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 195, (repro.).

James David Draper and Guilhem Scherf, Pajou: Sculpteur du roi, 1730-1809, exh. cat. (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1997), unpaginated, (repro.), as Jean-François Ducis.

Guilhem Scherf, “Le Triomphe de l’argile et du marbre,” Dossier de l’Art , no. 43 (November 1997):29, (repro.), as Jean-François Ducis.

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


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