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Dimensions: measurements height 59 1/2 in. alternate measurements 151 cm

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Literature: A. Feulner, no. 56A. Radcliffe, et al, no. 56.

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Notes: The original marble allegorical figure of Winter (La Frileuse) is dated 1783 and was commissioned by M. de Saint-Waast and is now in the Musée Fabre in Montpelier together with the companion figure of Summer dated 1785. Arnason records that a model for a figure of Winter was first mentioned in 1781 and was listed in the 1783 livret de Salon although only available in the artist's studio as there were public reservations about her nudity. Ironically it is because of the erotic nature of the study that it became one of Houdon's most popular compositions. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York has a full-size bronze version that was shown in the Salon of 1791; a small La Frileuse, presumed to be the terracotta now in the Louvre, was in the Salon of 1793 and a reduced model was in the 1796 Salon. Radcliffe lists a number of plaster and papier mâché versions that were produced by the studio which replace the urn included in the marble version with a tree trunk support. The presence of the wax cachet would place the present work as a studio piece produced before the artist's death in 1828.