35 CLAUDE MICHEL,
called Clodion
French (born in Nancy;
also active in Rome and Paris),
1738-1814
Vestal Presenting a Young
Woman at the Altar of Pan,
circa 1775
Terracotta
45.1 cm (17^3 /4 in.)
Inscribed on the clouds in
the back at right: CLODION
85.SC.166
Within the history of European sculpture, Clodion is perhaps the most famous
modeler of clay. During his nine years of study in Rome (1762-1771), the renown
of his terracottas became such that, as his earliest biographer records, these works were
"bought by amateurs even before they were finished." Among his clients was Empress
Catherine II of Russia, who attempted, without success, to attract Clodion to her court.
While in Rome, Clodion capitalized on what had been a growing interest in terracottas
as objects to be collected, and his technical brilliance also encouraged their aesthetic
appreciation as independent works of art (rather than simply as sketches or models
for works to be executed in more permanent media).
The Museums work depicts a woman, dressed as a vestal, who leads a young girl
before a term figure of Pan, the god of pastures and fertility. Cupid, whose bow and
arrows lie on the ground, has just strategically hung a garland of roses around the term.
The smoking incense burner and sacrificial tripod that stand beside Pan suggest that
the term is an altar and that the scene is an initiation rite to love or marriage. Similar
subjects—with figures in classicizing garb involved in scenes of love, sacrifice, and
other ancient rites—became popular in France during the third quarter of the
eighteenth century. They were treated by painters such as Charles Natoire, Joseph
Vien, and Jean-Honore Fragonard in the 1760s and 1770s, as well as by sculptors
designing biscuit porcelain groups for the Sevres manufactory. Reflecting a playful,
romantic attitude toward the classical world, the Vestal Presenting a Young Woman
at the Altar of Pan is typical of Clodion's work in its depiction of a non-serious genre
scene with mythological figures of secondary rank. (Rarely did Clodion treat epic scenes
or depict the major classical gods.) Also typical is the contrast of a grotesque male figure
with a pretty female. This terracotta is meant to be read primarily from a frontal point
of view, even though it is finished in the round. PF
EUROPEAN SCULPTURE 99
