Franz Xaver Messerschmidt: The Beaked

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (Swabia, Germany, 6th February 1736 - Bratislava, Slovakia, 19th August 1783)

Today marks the anniversary of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, sculptor of one of the most remarkable and strange bodies of work created in the 18th century. Born into humble beginnings, Messerschmidt received his training from his uncle, sculptor Johann Baptist Straub, and battling against his own psychological issues and the sometimes debilitating physical symptoms of these, found his work in bronze in demand from the most illustrious houses of Austria.

What has ensure Messerschmidt's place in the history of art is his series of sixty four grimacing, tortured busts that have been termed his character heads. He began work on the heads in the early 1770s, inspired by the digestive agony he suffered as a result of an undiagnosed discomfort. The busts were based on his own facial expressions, which he observed in a mirror when pinching his own body in order to combat the pains in his stomach.

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt: The Beaked

The heads came about as a result of Messerschmidt's belief that he was being visited by demonic beings. Indeed, the heads were intended as a method of protection from these devilish creatures and Messerschmidt developed a highly complex system for placing the busts in a particular order that would form a protective barrier between him and his imagined spiritual persecutors.

As Messerschmidt continued his work, he came to firmly believe that his efforts to combat the demons had angered one particularly malevolent character that he termed the Spirit of Proportion. This being, he believed, had existed for millennia and was charged with protecting the arcane knowledge that he alone had discovered. By night, Messerschmidt thought, the Spirit of Proportion visited him in his rooms and tortured him as punishment for his efforts to resist his tormentors by sculpting the heads. 

In response to these agonies, Messerschmidt sculpted The Beaked. It is a nightmarish image of the human face contorted into an agonised grimace and once can only imagine what its creator must have been suffering when he conceived of it. Messerschmidt's art is remarkable and, as far as I know, unique; once seen, it is not easily forgotten.

"Too athletic...": Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker

Antonio Canova  (Possagno, Italy, 1st November 1757 - Venice, Italy, 13th October 1822)

Self Portrait by Antonia Canova, 1892

Today marks the death of Antonio Canova, a sculptor particularly noted for his nudes. Highly neoclassical, his heroic sculptures can be seen across Europe and today I take a closer look at the monumental Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker, a giant statue of more than eleven feet in height. However, when the Emperor saw it, he was somewhat less than convinced...

Leaving Rome in 1802, Canova was summoned to Paris by Napoleon himself who, keen to commission a statue from the famed artist, sat for a study and bust. After discussion with his patron as to the eventual look and theme of the word Canova went home once more and began work on the sculpture. He envisioned a depiction of Napoleon as Mars, envisioning a most colossal and breathtaking statue that would no doubt stop its audience in their tracks. 

Accordingly, Canova toiled at the sculpture and those who saw it during the period of its creation were suitably impressed and arranged for it to occupy pride of place in the Musée Napoléon. With the fate of the statue agreed, in 1806 the finished article took up residence in its new home and there it remained. With a somewhat full schedule, Napoleon himself did not actually make a visit to view the sculpture until 1811 and when he did, he was far from pleased with what he saw.

Regarding the muscular physique and classical pose, complete with orb and staff, Napoleon declared that it was "too athletic". It was removed from public view and placed behind a concealing screen in the Salle des Hommes Illustres, where it remained for half a decade. The sculpture was set to travel on though and, when the Musée Napoléon was once again named the Louvre, the British government came calling.

In 1816, a purchase price of £3000 was agreed despite Canova's wish to buy the sculpture for his private collection, and Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker crossed the sea and found a new home in England. Here it was presented by the Prince Regent to the Duke of Wellington, a keen collector of Canova's work. Work was carried out at Aspley House to reinforce the floor and then, finally, Napoleon was installed in London, where he remains to this day.

Life in the Georgian Court, true tales of 18th century royalty, is available at the links below.

Pen and Sword
Amazon UK
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Book Depository (free worldwide shipping)

The Scandalous Buttocks of La Frileuse

Jean-Antoine Houdon (Versailles, France, 25th March 1741 – Paris, France, 15th July 1828)

Today marks the anniversary of the death of Jean-Antoine Houdon. A sculptor of no small note, Houdon enjoyed enormous success both before and after the French Revolution, though he fell from favour during those turbulent intervening years. A graduate of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Houdon became known for his busts of famed figures including monarchs, philosophers and even American Presidents!

Despite his fashionable popularity and renown, Houdon scandalised polite society in 1783 when he unveiled his work entitled, La Frileuse, or, Winter. The figure depicts a young, naked woman, draped only in a shawl that does little to cover her, posing before a classical urn and supported against the trunk of a tree. 

Initially worked out in terracotta and then carved in marble, in 1785, Houdon submitted the work to the Académie for its salon and found it rejected though there was a grudging suggestion that it might be placed in a corner somewhere, hopefully to hide the young lady's buttocks! It is certainly a unique depiction of the season even today and no less eye-catching, though perhaps we have grown a little more difficult to scandalise.

In 1787 Houdon returned to the subject and cast a bronze version of the work for the duc d'Orleans, this time removing the tree trunk and urn and leaving her even more starkly exposed. Houdon made several copies of the silvering, vulnerable figure, as did a number of other sculptors, much to his annoyance. However, the original, scandalous inspiration definitely belonged to Jean-Antoine Houdon.

Roubiliac's Monument to Handel

As regular visitors will know, I am a keen enthusiast of paintings from the glorious Georgian era. I am far from an expert but can happily lose hours studying the work of the era, hopefully learning one or two things along the way. My knowledge of sculpture is somewhat more lacking but today it is that medium that draws my interest, as we take to a trip to Westminster Abbey to mark the anniversary of the unveiling of a hugely impressive monument.

On this day in 1762, three years after the death of George Frideric Handel, Louis-François Roubiliac's breathtaking sculpture of the composer was finally revealed. Roubiliac had sculpted Handel more than twenty years earlier as a commission for Jonathan Tyers, the owner of Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens but whereas that was a somewhat casual depiction of the composer, the Westminster Abbey work was to be far more formal.

The life-size statue shows a finely-dressed Handel among heavenly clouds, accompanied by angels and with a copy of the Messiah score in pride of place. An ornate organ and other instruments are also part of the scene, making the clear point that, even in heaven, Handel would not be kept from composing. The statue is positioned above Handel's final resting place and was modelled from the composer's death mask, so we can be sure that it is an excellent likeness. 

This stunning funereal monument was created thanks to a specific point in Handel's will in which he asked that he be buried in Westminster Abbey, with a monument erected to his memory. I think he might have been pleased with the result!

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, Sculptor

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (Paris, France, 26th January 1714 – Paris, France, 20th August 1785)

Today we welcome a sculptor to the salon in the estimable form of Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, a man who rose from relatively humble beginnings to become the toast of Paris.

Pigalle was born in perhaps uninspiring circumstances, as one of seven children born to a carpenter. From a young age he showed an aptitude for art and was determined to win a place at the Académie Royale. He began his training with Robert le Lorrain and, without the wealth and privilege of some of his contemporaries, funded his own trip to Rome in 1735. Here he he studied and developed his talents with an eye on the Prix de Rome.

Mercury Attaching his Wings

In fact, Pigalle did not win the Prix and returned to France in 1740, where he conceived his most famous sculpture, that of Mercury Attaching his Wings. It was an enormous critical success and he was finally awarded a place at the Académie Royale in 1744. With this ambition realised he quickly rose to the top of his field as a favourite of the royal court, particularly Madame de Pompadour.

By 1752 Pigalle was a professor at the Académie, his work on display in the courts of Europe and Russia. His sculptures are noted for their naturalism and were occasionally controversial, as seen in the shocked reception to his 1776 piece, Nude Voltaire. Tombs created by Pigalle can be seen in Notre Dame de Paris and by the time of his death, he was considered one of the foremost sculptors of his age.

Nude Voltaire, 1753

Wax, Business and a Narrow Escape from the Guillotine: Marie Tussaud

Marie Tussaud (Anna Maria Grosholtz; Strasbourg, France, 1st December 1761 - London, England, 16th April 1850)

We seem to have spent a lot of this week sailing the seas and hearing of some dark chapters in the nautical history of England but today we're back on dry land. Revolutionary France beckons once more, as I tell the story of a woman whose name has become synonymous with the a very particular form of sculpting.

The woman who has become known to history as Marie Tussaud was born Anna Maria Grosholtz, the daughter of Anne-Marie Walder and Joseph Grosholtz, a soldier. Grosholtz suffered devastating injuries during the  the Seven Years' War and died two months before his daughter was born. Left to raise her daughter alone, Anne-Marie travelled to Bern where she took a position as housekeeper to Dr Philippe Curtius , who became an influential figure in the life of the young Marie. Curtius was an enthusiastic wax sculpture and used the medium to illustrate anatomy lectures, whilst experimenting with wax portraits in his spare time.

In 1765 Curtius, whom Marie came to know as uncle, established himself in Paris with an exhibition of wax portraits; so popular did his work become that he decided to remain in France and accepted a commission to sculpt a wax model of Madame du Barry. Marie and her mother joined him in his new home, meeting the frequent and illustrious visitors who came to sit for Curtius. His first permanent exhibition opened in 1770 and was a great commercial success, followed in 1782 with the far darker Caverne des Grands Voleurs, a forerunner to the Chamber of Horrors. Curtius passed on his knowledge and skills to the young Marie, who joined his employ as an artist. In 1777 she completed a model of Voltaire, her first ever full wax figure and the start of a most illustrious career. 

For a decade Marie was in high demand and sculpted the great and good of Europe. She became a firm favourite of the royal family at the Versailles court and artistic tutor to members of the royal family even as Curtius deepened his political views, introducing Marie to those who would lead the country to revolution. When the Terror swept through Paris, Marie's closeness to the monarchy resulted in her arrest and imprisonment. Her date with the guillotine was set and the young woman's hair was shaved in readiness for execution.

In fact, her salvation would prove to be one of the men whom Curtius had befriended prior to the revolution. Collot d'Herbois had become an influential and somewhat notorious member of the Committee of Public Safety and he stepped in on behalf of his friend to save Marie from her fate. Under the terms of her release Marie was employed to make death masks of those who died on the guillotine and these were in turn used as symbols of the revolution. Marie found herself casting the most famous victims of the guillotine including those who had once been her friends at Versailles and the men who had been Curtius' political peers. Among her most famous post-mortem clients were Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI and Robespierre; she even made the preliminary sketches for David's famous depiction of Marat's death.

Curtius died in 1794 and left his collection to Marie. Just a year later she met and married engineer François Tussaud and though the couple had two sons, the marriage was not a happy one. When magician and showman Paul Philidor invited Marie to launch her collection in England in 1802 she accepted the invitation keenly, seeing a valuable chance to expand her career. Marie left both France and François behind, she would never see either again.

In England Marie found herself celebrated, yet her contract with Philidor was not financially lucrative and she eventually established herself without him, touring her exhibition with the assistance of her sons. She proved herself a talented promoter and continued to tour and sculpt for decades, finally opening a permanent exhibition in Baker Street in 1835. After her death at the age of 88 her sons and grandchildren in turn followed her into the world of wax sculpting, ensuring that the name of Madame Tussaud would live on.

The Egyptian Adventures of Joseph Bonomi the Younger

Joseph Bonomi the Younger (London, England, 9th October 1796 – Wimbledon, London, England, 3rd March 1878) 

Joseph Bonomi the Younger by Matilda Sharpe

I am going through fard at a rate of knots this year and my fanning hand is starting to get tired with all these jaunts to exotic locales, yet I find myself packing my portmanteau once again in preparation for today's expedition to Egypt in the company of Joseph Bonomi the Younger.

As the son of successful architect Joseph Bonomi the Elder and brother of another architect, Ignatius, it was perhaps a natural assumption that Bonami would also follow this career path but instead he showed an early interest and talent for sculpture. This interest burgeoned as he grew older and the young man attended the Royal Academy before travelling to Rome to study under Antonio Canova. When Canova died before Bonomi arrived the would-be pupil faced his disappointment with stoicism and remained in Rome to continue his studies under his own steam. However, it was not long before mounting debts forced Bonomi to seek another opportunity and he enthusiastically accepted an offer from antiquarian Robert Hay to accompany him to Egypt. The trip was to prove a fateful one for Bonomi, who found himself energised and inspired by his newly-discovered love of Egyptian history and culture.

An Egyptian Chariot by Joseph Bonomi

The expedition left in 1824 and for two years Bonomi laboured over hugely detailed sketches and casts of the antiquities the group encountered, sharing some with Hay and keeping others for his portfolio.  Although Bonomi had initially been happy to accept a token salary, as his own reputation grew he approached Hay to discuss the matter of remuneration; it was to prove an unhappy meeting. As Bonomi resented his low salary, Hay in turn disapproved of the artist using the trip to forward his own career and the two men's relationship grew increasingly fractured. His patience exhausted, Bonomi resigned his position in 1826, remaining in Cairo to take on lucrative illustration work for private clients.

By now respected in his own right, Bonomi met Hay again in 1832. Rediscovering their shared love of Egyptology, the two men decided to put their differences behind them and travel Egypt once more, with Bonomi's salary now more befitting a man of his reputation. Hay left the country in 1834 and Bonomi undertook tours of the east himself, though he found nothing to excite him as Egyptology did.

Robert Hay

Bonomi finally returned to his homeland in 1844 and followed the family tradition, doing some architectural work inspired by his years in Egypt. He married Jessie Martin, with whom he had 12 children, and immersed himself once more in Egyptology, finding himself in demand as an illustrator and archivist of collections of Egyptian artefacts including those at the British Museum and the Crystal Palace.

The man who had travelled so far from home was finally settled, living a long and happy life and indulging his love for design, sculpture and Egyptology. From the expedition with Hay that was taken simply to clear his debts, Bonomi found the passion that would shape his life and make his name, immersed in Egypt and the antiquities that fascinated him to his dying day.