Way back in November (I am so behind, omg), selenak made a post on her personal blog about nude statues, and naturally Voltaire's came up.
To which I wrote: Also, I still want to know why Fritz didn't want it. We know he liked nude statues of, or at least, symbolically representing, his boyfriends! Total missed opportunity there. :P
He did at least get a copy of the bust, iirc.
selenak replied: Well, if Orieux is right he never unpacked the bust because he was pissed off about the memoirs, so not wanting the statue might have had a similar reason. Except that the memoirs were only published in 1784, so that wouldn't explain why Fritz didn't aquire the statue previously.
I've been meaning to reply and now finally am here to say that I misremembered slightly: the bust in question was not from Voltaire/Voltaire's people to Fritz, but vice versa. Quoting MacDonogh:
Three years later [so in 1775] KPM was issuing busts of Voltaire, ‘which resemble you in the old days, perhaps even now’, said Frederick. Voltaire peevishly acknowledged the gift of an ‘old man in porcelain’. The king thought it a very good likeness and told d’Alembert it lacked only the power to speak. He recommended that the best effects could be had by reciting the Henriade to it and watching it at the same time.
I absolutely love this image. Oh, Fritz, you never got over your ex, did you? :D
Continuing with the theme of their contentious relationship and its give-and-take:
Voltaire wanted revenge in the form of a Frederick, but the king of Prussia still adhered to his policy of keeping portrait painters at arm’s length, deeming them as adept at flattery as the most refined courtiers. He allowed Anna Dorothea Therbusch, however, to make the familiar bust of him that served as the KPM’s model, injecting a little youthful grace into his raddled face. Voltaire received one in good time. Frederick decided that the bust would be more likely to ‘ruin an apartment than to decorate it’. The king joked that the sculptress had refused to clothe him in the garb of an anchorite.
(I'm still on partial salon hiatus, but have a little more time today, especially as sciatica is interfering with German studies. I mean, in theory I *can* study German at the computer, but it's too easy to get distracted. As you can see. :P)
Voltaire, Fritz, and statues
To which I wrote: Also, I still want to know why Fritz didn't want it. We know he liked nude statues of, or at least, symbolically representing, his boyfriends! Total missed opportunity there. :P
He did at least get a copy of the bust, iirc.
I've been meaning to reply and now finally am here to say that I misremembered slightly: the bust in question was not from Voltaire/Voltaire's people to Fritz, but vice versa. Quoting MacDonogh:
Three years later [so in 1775] KPM was issuing busts of Voltaire, ‘which resemble you in the old days, perhaps even now’, said Frederick. Voltaire peevishly acknowledged the gift of an ‘old man in porcelain’. The king thought it a very good likeness and told d’Alembert it lacked only the power to speak. He recommended that the best effects could be had by reciting the Henriade to it and watching it at the same time.
I absolutely love this image. Oh, Fritz, you never got over your ex, did you? :D
Continuing with the theme of their contentious relationship and its give-and-take:
Voltaire wanted revenge in the form of a Frederick, but the king of Prussia still adhered to his policy of keeping portrait painters at arm’s length, deeming them as adept at flattery as the most refined courtiers. He allowed Anna Dorothea Therbusch, however, to make the familiar bust of him that served as the KPM’s model, injecting a little youthful grace into his raddled face. Voltaire received one in good time. Frederick decided that the bust would be more likely to ‘ruin an apartment than to decorate it’. The king joked that the sculptress had refused to clothe him in the garb of an anchorite.
Never change, Voltaire and Fritz.
KPM is the Königliche Porzellan Manufaktur, or the porcelain factory that Fritz founded after the Seven Years' War.
(I'm still on partial salon hiatus, but have a little more time today, especially as sciatica is interfering with German studies. I mean, in theory I *can* study German at the computer, but it's too easy to get distracted. As you can see. :P)