2021.183: Portrait of a Woman

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2021.183

People

Gustave Courbet, French (Ornans, France 1819 - 1877 La Tour-de-Peilzy, near Vevey, Switzerland)

Title

Portrait of a Woman

Other Titles

Former Title: Portrait of the Artist's Sister

Classification

Paintings

Work Type

painting

Date

1859

Culture

French

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/370194

Location

Location

Level 3, Room 3600, University Research Gallery

View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

65.8 × 51.3 cm (25 7/8 × 20 3/16 in.)
frame: 97 × 82 cm (38 3/16 × 32 5/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription: lower right: Gustave Courbet
• inscription: back of frame, graphite: JH WEITZNER / 1951
• stamp: back of canvas: circular customs stamp, mostly illegible, including "DOUANE"

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

The artist's estate, sold; through [Hotel Drouot, Paris, June 28, 1882, lot 16]. Gérard père, sold; through [Hotel Drouot, Paris, February 25, 1896, lot 17], to; M. Gérard, fils. [Durand-Ruel, Paris]. Georges Bernheim, Paris, sold; through [Galerie Charpentier, Paris, June 7, 1935, lot 48]; [Georges Seligmann, New York], exchanged; with [Weitzner], sold; to Nathan B. Spingold (1886-1958), by 1949, New York, sold; to (or through) [Julius H. Weitzner, New York and London], sold; to Arthur K. Solomon, Cambridge, February 4, 1951; The Arthur K. and Mariot F. Solomon Trust, bequest; to Harvard Art Museums, 2021

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Arthur K. and Mariot F. Solomon Collection

Accession Year

2021

Object Number

2021.183

Division

European and American Art

Contact

am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Publication History

• Catalogue de tableaux, études, esquisses et dessins de Gustave Courbet, auct. cat., Hôtel Drouot (Paris, June 28, 1882), no. 16
• Jules Castagnary, Exposition des oeuvres de Gustave Courbet à l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, exh. cat., Ecole des Beaux-Arts (Paris, 1882), p. 51, no. 50
• Paul Eudel, L'Hôtel Drouot et la Curiosité en 1882, G. Charpentier (Paris, 1883), p. 417
• Alexandre Estignard, Gustave Courbet, sa vie, ses oeuvres, Delagrange-Louys (Besançon, 1896), p. 160 (part of 1859)
• Tableaux modernes, aquarelles & dessins, auct. cat., Hôtel Drouot (Paris, February 25, 1896), lot 17
• Ausstellung Gustave Courbet: 28 September - 26. Oktober in unseren Ausstellungsräumen, exh. cat., Galerie Wertheim (Berlin, 1930), no. 12
• Catalogue des tableaux modernes, aquarelles, pastels, gouaches, dessins... provenant de la collection Georges Bernheim, auct. cat., Galerie Charpentier (Paris, June 7, 1935), lot 48, repr.
• Robert Fernier, La vie et l'oeuvre de Gustave Courbet, La Bibliothèque des Arts (Lausanne, Switzerland, 1978), no. 250, repr.
• Pierre Courthion, L'Opera Completa di Courbet, Rizzoli Editore (Milan, Italy, 1985), no. 241, repr.
• Arthur K. Solomon, Marjorie B. Cohn, Angela Creager, and Robert Köhler, Arthur Kaskel Solomon: Transcripts of Interviews Sponsored by the Oral History Committee, Harvard Medical School, 1993-1995 (Boston, 1997), pp. 410, 419-420
• A. Cassandra Albinson, Marina Kliger, and Casey Monahan, ed., The Solomon Collection: Dürer to Degas and Beyond, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums and Yale University Press (Cambridge, 2025), pp. 18, 42, 209 repr. 209

Exhibition History

• Exposition des oeuvres de Gustave Courbet, École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 05/01/1882 - 05/31/1882
• Ausstellung Gustave Courbet, Galerie Wertheim, Berlin, 09/28/1930 - 10/26/1930
• The Solomon Collection: Dürer to Degas and Beyond, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/24/2025 - 08/17/2025

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