This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery. Please follow the links below for related online resources or visit our current exhibitions schedule.

Jean-Antoine Houdon is universally recognized as the greatest European portrait sculptor of the last half of the 18th century. Despite his fame, however, Houdon has never been the subject of a major monographic exhibition. This exhibition focuses on Houdon's greatest fully documented sculptures, in some instances showing terracotta, plaster, and marble versions of the same portrait. Vivid portrayals of the great intellectual, military, and political figures of the Enlightenment, as well as portraits of children and works depicting historical and mythological subjects will be on view. Some 60 works illustrate the remarkable degree of physical accuracy and extraordinary psychological insight Houdon incorporated into his sculpture.