Artist
Pierre-Philippe  Thomire (French, 1751 -1843)

Title
Clock of the Vestals Carrying the Sacred Fire

date
1789

medium
gilded, patinated, and painted bronze, Sevrès porcelain, enamel on copper, and marble

size
16 x 28 in.

credit line
William A. Clark Collection. Restored through funds given in memory of Alice Withington Clement, member of the Women's Committe of the Corcoran Gallery of Art

Accession Number
26.740

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Clock of the Vestals Carrying the Sacred Fire
Pierre-Philippe  Thomire (French, 1751 -1843)

The Clock of the Vestals marked the passing of the hours in Queen Marie-Antoinette’s boudoir, or private sitting room, in the Tuileries Palace in Paris, adjacent to the Palais du Louvre. The royal family was forced to move there in October 1789 after a mob of Parisians attacked the palace at Versailles, the official residence of the king for more than a hundred years. In the Tuileries the king and queen held court in gilded splendor, but they were state prisoners nonetheless. Their last unhappy days together were passed in this palace, before they were permanently separated in the mean quarters where they awaited their executions in 1793. . . .

:: Dare Myers Hartwell, Conservator
Corcoran Gallery of Art

Text excerpted from A Capital Collection: Masterworks from the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

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