The Abduction of Helen

1683-1686

Pierre Puget French, 1620-1694

On View

European: Poussin, Level 2, South Wing

The Abduction of Helen: 1 of Collection Gallery

The Abduction of Helen: 2 of Collection Gallery

The Abduction of Helen: 3 of Collection Gallery

The Abduction of Helen: 4 of Collection Gallery

The Abduction of Helen: 5 of Collection Gallery

The Abduction of Helen: 6 of Collection Gallery

The Abduction of Helen: 7 of Collection Gallery

The Abduction of Helen: 8 of Collection Gallery

The Abduction of Helen: 9 of Collection Gallery

The Abduction of Helen: 10 of Collection Gallery

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About the Artwork

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

The greatest French baroque sculptor, Puget, created this model for a monumental marble group to stand in the gardens of the royal chateau at Versailles. Although many variants and copies have been made of this piece, this bronze appears to be the only seventeenth-century cast, probably made under Puget's supervision in Toulon in the south of France.

Title The Abduction of Helen

Artwork Date 1683-1686

Artist Pierre Puget

Life Dates 1620-1694

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. French

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Bronze

Dimensions Overall: 38 1/4 × 19 × 16 15/16 inches (97.2 × 48.3 × 43 cm) Mount (pedestal): 38 1/8 × 19 13/16 × 19 13/16 inches (96.8 × 50.3 × 50.3 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department European Sculpture and Dec Arts

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Allan Shelden III Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 79.21

Markings

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Provenance

Marc Bauraud (Paris, France)

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Exhibition History

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Published References

Herding, K. Pierre Puget, das Bildnerische Werk. Berlin, 1970, pp. 182-183.

Walton, Guy. "The Abduction of Helen of Troy: a 17th-Century French Bronze." Bulletin of the DIA 61, no. 1/2 (1983): pp. 30-37 (ill.).

Pierre Puget: Peintre, Sculpteur, Architecte 1620-1694. Exh. cat., Centre de la Vieille Charité. Marseilles, 1994, pp. 152-155, no. 53.

Darr, A. P. “From Marseilles to Detroit: Two French Sculptures Attributed to Puget and Veyrier.” In Studi in Onore di Andrew S. Ciechanowiecki. Antologia di Belle Arti. Torino, 1994, pp. 42-52, nos. 48-51.

Pierre Puget: Un Artista Francese E La Cultura Barocca a Genova. Exh. cat., Palazzo Ducale. Genoa, 1995, pp. 146-149, no. 18 [entry by A.P. Darr].

Walton, G. Commemorating Pierre Puget: Marseilles and Genoa 1995. Gazette des Beaux Arts 125 (Mai-Juin 1995): pp. 323-334.

Bronzes Français de la Renaissance au Siècle des Lumières. Exh. cat., Musée du Louvre. Paris, 2008, pp. 242-245 (color ill.).

Bober, Jonathan, Piero Boccardo, and Franco Boggero. A Superb Baroque: Art in Genoa 1600-1750. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington. Princeton and Oxford, 2020, pp. 272-273, cat. no. 90, (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Pierre Puget, The Abduction of Helen, 1683-1686, bronze. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Allan Shelden III Fund, 79.21.