One of the most imaginative and fascinating artists of eighteenth-century France, Edme Bouchardon (1698-1762) was instrumental in the transition from Rococo to Neoclassicism and in the artistic rediscovery of classical antiquity. Much celebrated in his time, Bouchardon created some of the most iconic images of the age of Louis XV. His oeuvre demonstrates a remarkable variety of themes (from copies after the antique to subjects of history and mythology, portraiture, anatomical studies, ornament, fountains and tombs), media (drawings, sculptures, medals, prints), and techniques (chalk, plaster, wax, terracotta, marble, bronze). This lavishly illustrated publication represents an unprecedented and thorough survey on this major and unique artist from the Age of Enlightenment, offering in-depth scholarship based on unpublished material detailing the subtle relationship between, as well as the relative autonomy of, the artist's two careers as a sculptor and a draftsman.

This catalog sheds new light on Jean-Antoine Houdon, a French sculptor already famous during his lifetime and living in an especially artistic and social era. Representing the Age of Enlightenment, his sculptures present a sensual collection of intellectual penetration by means of representing his protagonists in a sustainable manner. The sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828) is one of the most prominent French artists of the late 18th Century. Committed to the spirit of the Enlightenment, he devoted himself to serving as an example of the core concern, to finding new forms for old motifs. In particular, he was regarded as the most successful portrait sculptor of his time. The "Frileues" ("The Chilly Woman"), created by Houdon in 1781, is considered one of the most famous sculptures of the time. She embodies the winter and was designed as a counterpart to the presentation of "Summer." The two sculptures are the focus of this consideration that serve as examples of the paradigmatic change that occurred between art of the Enlightenment and Baroque art. German text.