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Side-profile portrait of a pale, brown-haired woman wearing dark clothing with her hair in an updo.

Portrait of a woman facing slightly away from the viewer. Her right side-profile is largely visible showing an unsmiling and serious, though calm, expression. The woman’s eyebrows, eyes, and hair are a dark brown, offset by her pale skin and blush-stained cheeks. Clothed in a black dress with a large black bow in her hair, the woman somewhat blends into the background of the painting which is similarly dark. A gold tie or chain hangs from her neck, though hardly visible.

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

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 Spingold, 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
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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

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

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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