Voltaire Seated in an Armchair. Sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon. 1781

The statue of Voltaire seated in an armchair is an outstanding work by Jean-Antoine Houdon, one of the preeminent French sculptors of the 18th-century. The sculptor executed the statue in 1781 to a commission from Catherine II who for many years was in correspondence with Voltaire. The sculptor rose up to the tough challenge to create the image of the great philosopher, “the ruler of men’s minds” of progressive people of the Age of Enlightenment. The Empress ordered that the statue be set up at an honorary place in the Grotto Pavilion in Tsarskoye Selo. However, in a while the attitude to Voltaire of members of the Russian ruling class changed dramatically because of the closeness of the free thinker’s ideas to the events of the French Revolution. This had an impact on the fate of the statue. At first it was hidden in the room of the Library of Foreign Literature in the Hermitage. Afterwards on the instructions of Nicholas I it was removed from the imperial residence. The sculpture was repeatedly moved across St Petersburg, it was moved to Tsarskoye Selo. It was not until 1887 that the statue of Voltaire was returned to the Hermitage where it remained until the Revolution of 1917. In the 20th century the sculpture was twice evacuated: from 1917 to 1920 it was in Moscow, during WWII it was moved to Sverdlovsk (present Yekaterinburg). After the evacuation, the statue of a seated Voltaire occupied a permanent place in the Department of French Art of the State Hermitage Museum. At present the statue is on view in Room 28 on the first floor of the Winter Palace.

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прекрасный фильм. Нам в Творческой мастерской скульптуры Селиверстова Игоря он очень понравился

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Мне очень понравилось описание Вальтера.Спасибо огромное Вам.Здоровья Вам и всех земных благ.Сьемки тоже хороши.Всем спасибо.

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Замечательный рассказ. Посмотрела после прямых эфиров из Эрмитажа в карантин. Спасибо огромное создателям видео.

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Господа, гораздо интересней слушать хранителей.