Jean-Antoine Houdon, Marble statue in the 6th arrondissement, Paris, France

The marble statue of Jean-Antoine Houdon stands in the Luxembourg Garden near the Musée du Luxembourg. Houdon is shown seated in an armchair, wearing an 18th-century coat and knee breeches, with a chisel in his right hand and a bust beside him. The pedestal bears the sculptor's name, Ernest-Eugène Hiolle, and the date 1888.

The marble statue of Jean-Antoine Houdon in the Luxembourg Garden is the work of Ernest-Eugène Hiolle, who signed it and dated it 1888. Houdon, born in 1741 and dead in 1828, was the leading French portrait sculptor of the 18th century; his busts of Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin are among his best-known works. The monument honours him in the garden where a bust of his own had stood since 1882.

The inscription on the base recalls an artist who shaped how an entire era saw itself through portraiture. Walking past the sculpture, visitors notice how deeply this craftsman's vision influenced the way important thinkers were remembered.

The sculpture sits in the Luxembourg Garden and is freely accessible while walking through the park. The garden opens from sunrise to sunset, so visitors have plenty of daylight hours to view the work.

The marble bust of Houdon in the Luxembourg Garden is a monument to a sculptor, not a work by him: it was carved in 1888 by Ernest-Eugène Hiolle. Houdon's fame rests on portrait busts of Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin, several of which he modelled from life.