Aimé-Jules Dalou (French, 1838-1902): A sculpted terracotta portrait bust of John Evan Hodgson R.A., dated 1874

Footnotes

Exhibited:
Royal Academy annual exhibition 1875, cat. no. 1358, 'J.E. Hodgson., Esq. A.R.A., terra-cotta.'

Recognised as perhaps one of the premier sculptors of 19th century France, Dalou was admired for his perceptiveness, free execution, and unpretentious realism and was a friend and contemporary of Rodin. He first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1861 but was refused the prestigious Prix de Rome which would have done much to further his career due his politics and opposition to the government during the Second Empire period although his sculpture of Daphinis and Chloe was subsequently purchased by the State after it was shown at the Salon in 1869. However as a supporter of the Paris Commune whilst curator of the Musee du Louvre under Gustave Courbet, he was forced into a period of self-imposed exile from France in 1871 and made his home in London. He was then convicted in his absence by the French Government for his involvement with the Commune and given a life sentence although he was eventually pardoned eight years later.

During his time in London he initially stayed with the sculptor Alphonse Legros who produced a portray bust of Dalou in bronze now in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery and later became professor of sculpture at the National Art Training School at South Kensington associating himself with the artists of the New Sculpture movement. He also produced a series of terracotta statuettes and groups including 'The Reader' and 'A French Peasant Woman' and a small series of portrait busts of friends and acquaintances before concentrating on more monumental works including a large public fountain of 'Charity' behind the Royal Exchange, London.

The present lot is one of the small series of terracotta portrait busts produced by Dalou in London and was until its recent discovery and identification thought to be lost. Depicting the Orientalist painter John Evan Hodgson, it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1875. Dalou executed the bust a year earlier which was coincidently the year that the sculptor had also shown similar terracotta busts of the two premier Orientalist painters of the period, Lord Frederick Leighton and Alma Tadema, all of whom were presumably friends.

John Evan Hodgson (British, 1831-1895) was a genre painter born in London. Studying at the Royal Academy Schools from 1853, he exhibited as the Academy between 1856 and 1893 and was elected A.R.A. in 1872 and R.A. in 1879. As a member of the St John's Wood 'Clique', he resided for almost thirty years at 5 Hill Road where the Saturday evening meetings of the group took place. Although his subjects were at first in keeping with the rest of the group's interests, that of the historical genre painting, this altered when he visited Africa in 1868 after which his subject matter moved to that of the orientalist narrative, although he also painted domestic scenes and portraits. Hodgson later became librarian and professor of painting at the Royal Academy in 1882 and with Frederick Eaton wrote an early history of the Royal Academy and Fifty Years of British Art to accompany the Royal Jubilee Exhibition, Manchester in 1887.

Literature:
Jules Dalou 1838-1902. (1976) Paris: Galerie Delestre.
[38] p. : ill. ; 24 cm

Dalou : sa vie et son œuvre / par Maurice Dreyfous ; préface de M. Henry Roujon. - Paris : H. Laurens, 1903.

References:
Aimé-Jules Dalou: Mapping the practice and profession of sculpture in Britain & Ireland 1851-1951