JEAN-ANTOINE HOUDON

JEAN-ANTOINE HOUDON (1741-1828), an eminent French sculptor, born of humble parentage at Versailles; at 20 he won the prix de Rome, and for 10 years studied with enthusiasm the early masters at Rome, where he produced his great statue of St. Bruno; he was elected in turn a member of the Academy and of the Institute, Paris, and in 1805 became professor at the École des Beaux-Arts; he was unrivalled in portraiture, and executed statues of Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, Mirabeau, Washington, Napoleon, and others.