Grayscale painting of nude winged woman, reclining man, and military troops
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A nude, light-skinned, long-haired woman stands at foreground right. She looks upward with large outstretched wings and extended arms. Under her right hand, an elderly light-skinned man lies on a wooden bed with a carved rooster decoration. Wreaths of leaves and flowers cover the ground in front of him. To the left, a woman in a dark veil stands looking at the man. In the background is a cityscape with buildings under a cloudy sky. A procession of horses passes on the left. In the clouds, there are shadowy scenes of military troops.

Gallery Text

Shrouded in the French flag and surrounded by symbols of national grief, Louis-Adolphe Thiers (1797–1877), president of the Third French Republic, lies in state.To his left, a mourning figure representing France bows her head, while to the right, a nude, winged figure of victory gestures toward the glorified wars of the past unfolding in the heavens. The allegorical composition was disparaged by several critics at the time, reflecting the ambivalence surrounding Thiers’s legacy because of his brutal suppression of the Paris Commune uprising (March–May 1871).

This is a smaller, grisaille version (painted in shades of gray) of the colorful painting that was exhibited at the Salon of 1878. Vibert was a painter, printmaker, and amateur photographer, and the unique American frame surrounding his painting underscores its playful mimicry of reproducible media. Constructed in New York in the 1890s, the frame is an enlarged version of the “shadow box” frames that collectors used to exhibit daguerreotypes and other works on paper in their homes.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1963.148
People
Jehan Georges Vibert, French (1840 - 1902)
Title
Apotheosis of Louis-Adolphe Thiers
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Apotheosis of Adolphe Thiers / Apotheosis of M. Thiers / Les Funerailles de M. Thiers
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1878
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/227955

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2100, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, Centuries of Tradition, Changing Times: Art for an Uncertain Age
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Technique
Grisaille
Dimensions
102.4 x 140.6 cm (40 5/16 x 55 3/8 in.)
framed: 153 x 191.1 x 17.2 cm (60 1/4 x 75 1/4 x 6 3/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: l.l.: J. G. Vibert

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Jehan Georges Vibert, sold [through Hôtel Drouot, April 21-28, 1887, lot 97]. Benjamin S. Bell, Washington, D.C., gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1963

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Benjamin S. Bell
Accession Year
1963
Object Number
1963.148
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Salon of 1878, exh. cat. (Paris, France, 1878), no. 2227
  • Vibert Sale, auct. cat., Hôtel Drouot (Paris, France, April 21, 1887 - April 28, 1887), no. 97
  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 132; repr. as no. 325
  • Eric M. Zafran, Cavaliers and Cardinals: Nineteenth-Century French Anecdotal Paintings, exh. cat., Taft Museum (Cincinnati, OH, 1992), repr. in b/w fig. 19, p. 18
  • Harrison C. White and Cynthia A. White, Canvasses and Careers: Institutional Change in the French Painting World, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL and London, England, 1993), repr. in b/w p. 101, fig. 12
  • Harvard Art Museums: In Your Hands, Harvard Art Museums and GILES (Cambridge, 2025)

Exhibition History

  • Annual Exhibition, 1878, Salon, Paris, Paris, 01/01/1878 - 12/31/1878
  • 32Q: 2100 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu