- Gallery Text
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Delville, the leading exponent of the “idealist” strain of Belgian symbolist painting, was a mystic strongly influenced by Neoplatonism. He believed that visible reality was only a symbol of the invisible. As a charter member of the Theosophical Society that formed in Brussels in the early 1890s, he was interested in the occult, spurred by a desire to inspire the soul to redeem its divine nature. While this delicately traced portrait of a member of his family—signed and dated 1899—is characteristic of his oeuvre in terms of its monochrome palette and emphasis on line, it is less obviously imbued with theosophical associations than was most of his work at this time. Yet the effect he achieved through the use of blue-toned pencil reveals the influence of speculative writings on color theory from followers of theosophy. A celestial hue, blue was associated with spirituality and regarded as a symbol of profundity.
- Identification and Creation
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- Object Number
- 2009.84
- People
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Jean Delville, Belgian (Leuven, Belgium 1867 - 1953 Brussels)
- Title
- Portrait of Adeline Lesseine
- Classification
- Drawings
- Work Type
- drawing
- Date
- 1899
- Culture
- Belgian
- Physical Descriptions
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- Medium
- Colored pencil and graphite on white wove paper
- Dimensions
- 29.3 x 23 cm (11 9/16 x 9 1/16 in.)
- Inscriptions and Marks
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- Signed: l.l., blue pencil: JEAN DElVillE / 1899
- Provenance
- The sitter's family; [art market, Belgium] sold; to Mr. and Mrs. Jean Noel, Liège; to [Galerie Monique Martel, Brussels] sold; to Harvard Art Museum, 2009
- Acquisition and Rights
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- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Marian H. Phinney Fund, Paul J. Sachs Memorial Fund, and William C. Heilman Fund
- Accession Year
- 2009
- Object Number
- 2009.84
- Division
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Contact
- am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
- The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.
- Descriptions
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- Commentary
- The sitter has been identified as the artist's sister-in-law Aline Lesseine.
- Publication History
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Carey Dunne, Flowers of Evil and the Macabre Literary Imagination of Symbolism, Hyperalleric (July 4, 2016), [e-journal], http://hyperallergic.com/305877/flowers-of-evil-and-the-macabre-literary-imagination-of-symbolism/, accessed January 9, 2017
- Exhibition History
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Flowers of Evil: Symbolist Drawings, 1870–1910, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/21/2016 - 08/14/2016
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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 Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu