Acquisitions
The Frick Collection has continued to expand its holdings in the decades following Henry Clay Frick's death in 1919. Since then, nearly half of the Collection's paintings and several important sculptures and decorative art objects have been acquired.
2007 Acquisitions
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Jean-Antoine Houdon (active 1741–1828)
Madame His, 1775
Marble
31 1/2 x 17 x 12 1/2 in. (80 x 43.2 x 31.8 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw, 2007 (2007.2.01)Collector Eugene V. Thaw gave the Frick a marble bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon, a portrait of Madame His. Anne L. Poulet, then Director of the Frick, who, in 2003, organized the acclaimed retrospective touring exhibition, Jean-Antoine Houdon: Sculptor of the Enlightenment, commented, “It is a great pleasure to see this sculpture find a permanent home at The Frick Collection, an institution celebrated for its holdings in French eighteenth-century painting, sculpture, and decorative arts. I know this portrait well, and it is a work of exquisite beauty and refinement, as well as a rare surviving example that preserves Houdon’s original luminous surface treatment. It is one of the only known examples in the world that remain in this remarkable state of preservation. The fact that the provenance of Madame His is known from the time it was carved by Houdon is also of significance. This acquisition is, indeed, a superb addition to the Frick, and we thank Eugene Thaw for his generosity.” MORE »
