Voltaire & Rousseau 

A fine pair of bronze library busts after the models of 1778 by Jean Antoine Houdon (1741-1828).

Excellent castings with sensitive after-work, the hollow of the casting to the reverse closed, confirming the high quality of the workshop’s output. Standing on well proportioned bronze socles with a bead decoration, on turned grey marble columns with a further band of beads, and standing on an ormolu step over a final stand of a grey and red marble.

French circa 1820.

h:12 ins x 4.5 ins x 4.5 ins

When these two heros of the enlightenment died within a few weeks of each other, Houdon seized upon the commercial opportunity to produce his much praised portrait busts as a pair, although their enmity towards each other was well known and to be in each others company was never as cordial as suggested here.