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拍品專文
With a career spanning the artistic centres of Paris and Rome, Jean-Baptiste Théodon enjoyed widespread acclaim during his lifetime across Italy and France, and was a sought after sculptor among the most prominent patrons of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, his commissions coveted by the aristocracy, Popes and monarchs alike.
Théodon was born in Vendrest (Seine-et-Marne) on 26th September 1645 but little is known about his early education and training as a sculptor. However, by the age of 29 he was working at the Palace of Versailles on the Grand Degré or Ambassadors staircase under the employ of the painter Charles Le Brun. Likely thanks to the recommendation of Le Brun, Théodon was introduced to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the French First Minister of State, who was to become his most important patron. The first known commission Théodon completed for Colbert were two ‘Combats d’Animeaux’ marble groups for Colbert’s chateau at Sceaux. As noted by Françoise de La Moureyre in her recent scholarship on the artist ‘these groups, full of energy and tension, are not the work of a beginner but of a seasoned artist’ (de La Moureyre, 2012, loc. cit.).
In 1676, Colbert paid for Théodon’s travel to, and lodgings in, Rome, organising for him to be housed at the French Academy. The privilege of travelling to Italy was normally reserved for the winner of the Prix de Rome and, as Théodon had not even been an entrant that year, demonstrates Colbert’s significant personal investment in the artist. The visit was to change the course of the sculptor’s career as Théodon remained in Rome for almost 30 years. Whilst there he garnered widespread acclaim and important commissions for both secular and ecclesiastical patrons. Notable examples include the artist’s work on the vault of the Church of the Jesu (1682-85) and the Triumph of Faith over Idolatry for the same church (1695-99), both commissions from the Jesuit order. Pope Innocent XII commissioned the funerary moment of Queen Christina of Sweden (1697-8) from him and for Pope Clement XI he created a marble Saint Callixtus for Santa Maria Trastevere (1702).
Whilst in Italy, Theodon did not cease his artistic output on behalf of patrons at home in France. Between 1688-92 he worked on a pair of marble figures of Atlas and Phaetusa intended for King Louis XIV (today housed in the Orangerie, Versailles). He also continued to undertake commissions for Colbert sculpting two of a set of four herm figures, those of Winter and Spring, for the Chateau de Sceaux. All four herm figures were previously erroneously attributed to Pierre I Legros, however, thanks to the recent reassessment of contemporary primary sources, they can be firmly attributed to three artists: Théodon, Laviron (Summer) and Lacroix (Autumn) (de La Moureyre, 2017, loc. cit.). All four figures were recorded at Sceaux in 1685 where they remained until at least 1798-99 and entered the Louvre collections in 1872.
The significance of the history and reattribution of Colbert’s herm figures is of great importance to the present marble given the striking similarity between this bust of Flora or Spring and the herm of Spring by Théodon, indicating that they are by the same hand. In her more recent research on the present bust, de La Moureyre puts forward the convincing argument that it formed part of a second commission of Théodon by Colbert alongside the herm figures that was intended for the King of France. This arrangement would therefore explain the presence of the fleur-de-lys carved on the back of the bust, a symbol of the monarch. It is also supported by letters written by Colbert in 1679 discussing shipping arrangements for his commissions. In the first, dated 21st January 1679 and written to the Intendant des Galères in Marseille he writes: ‘My son (Seignelay) gives you orders to equip and arm one of the King's largest galleys and send it to Civitavecchia to load a large number of crates that are now in Rome, variously busts, statues, vases, plaster casts, pictures, and other things which I have caused to be done there in His Majesty's service’. The items were subsequently loaded onto the Le Havre and the following month Colbert asks for ‘the terme de l’Hiver which is done, and that of Printemps, on which Théodon is still working’ to be added to the vessel (de La Moureyre, 2022, loc. cit.). It therefore seems highly likely that the present bust formed part of this group of sculpture destined for the king. Its slightly smaller scale suggests that it was intended for an intimate interior.
Théodon was born in Vendrest (Seine-et-Marne) on 26th September 1645 but little is known about his early education and training as a sculptor. However, by the age of 29 he was working at the Palace of Versailles on the Grand Degré or Ambassadors staircase under the employ of the painter Charles Le Brun. Likely thanks to the recommendation of Le Brun, Théodon was introduced to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the French First Minister of State, who was to become his most important patron. The first known commission Théodon completed for Colbert were two ‘Combats d’Animeaux’ marble groups for Colbert’s chateau at Sceaux. As noted by Françoise de La Moureyre in her recent scholarship on the artist ‘these groups, full of energy and tension, are not the work of a beginner but of a seasoned artist’ (de La Moureyre, 2012, loc. cit.).
In 1676, Colbert paid for Théodon’s travel to, and lodgings in, Rome, organising for him to be housed at the French Academy. The privilege of travelling to Italy was normally reserved for the winner of the Prix de Rome and, as Théodon had not even been an entrant that year, demonstrates Colbert’s significant personal investment in the artist. The visit was to change the course of the sculptor’s career as Théodon remained in Rome for almost 30 years. Whilst there he garnered widespread acclaim and important commissions for both secular and ecclesiastical patrons. Notable examples include the artist’s work on the vault of the Church of the Jesu (1682-85) and the Triumph of Faith over Idolatry for the same church (1695-99), both commissions from the Jesuit order. Pope Innocent XII commissioned the funerary moment of Queen Christina of Sweden (1697-8) from him and for Pope Clement XI he created a marble Saint Callixtus for Santa Maria Trastevere (1702).
Whilst in Italy, Theodon did not cease his artistic output on behalf of patrons at home in France. Between 1688-92 he worked on a pair of marble figures of Atlas and Phaetusa intended for King Louis XIV (today housed in the Orangerie, Versailles). He also continued to undertake commissions for Colbert sculpting two of a set of four herm figures, those of Winter and Spring, for the Chateau de Sceaux. All four herm figures were previously erroneously attributed to Pierre I Legros, however, thanks to the recent reassessment of contemporary primary sources, they can be firmly attributed to three artists: Théodon, Laviron (Summer) and Lacroix (Autumn) (de La Moureyre, 2017, loc. cit.). All four figures were recorded at Sceaux in 1685 where they remained until at least 1798-99 and entered the Louvre collections in 1872.
The significance of the history and reattribution of Colbert’s herm figures is of great importance to the present marble given the striking similarity between this bust of Flora or Spring and the herm of Spring by Théodon, indicating that they are by the same hand. In her more recent research on the present bust, de La Moureyre puts forward the convincing argument that it formed part of a second commission of Théodon by Colbert alongside the herm figures that was intended for the King of France. This arrangement would therefore explain the presence of the fleur-de-lys carved on the back of the bust, a symbol of the monarch. It is also supported by letters written by Colbert in 1679 discussing shipping arrangements for his commissions. In the first, dated 21st January 1679 and written to the Intendant des Galères in Marseille he writes: ‘My son (Seignelay) gives you orders to equip and arm one of the King's largest galleys and send it to Civitavecchia to load a large number of crates that are now in Rome, variously busts, statues, vases, plaster casts, pictures, and other things which I have caused to be done there in His Majesty's service’. The items were subsequently loaded onto the Le Havre and the following month Colbert asks for ‘the terme de l’Hiver which is done, and that of Printemps, on which Théodon is still working’ to be added to the vessel (de La Moureyre, 2022, loc. cit.). It therefore seems highly likely that the present bust formed part of this group of sculpture destined for the king. Its slightly smaller scale suggests that it was intended for an intimate interior.