From the Harvard Art Museums’ collections Saint Germain Distributing Alms

Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1984.585
People: Laurent de La Hyre, French (Paris 1606 - 1656 Paris)
Title: Saint Germain Distributing Alms
Other Titles: Former Title: Bishop Helping the Sick
Original Language Title: Eveque Secourant des Malades
Classification: Drawings
Work Type: drawing
Date: c. 1630
Culture: French
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/295049

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Black chalk and gray-brown wash on cream antique laid paper, prepared with brown wash

Dimensions

26.7 x 20 cm (10 1/2 x 7 7/8 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

watermark: Close to Gaudriault 4082, 4084, 4158, and 4213 [two fleurettes and initials in an oblong enclosure]
collector's mark: lower left, black ink: Flury-Hérard (L.1015)
collector's mark: lower left, black ink: Charles-Philippe, Marquis de Chennevières-Pointel (L.2072)
collector's mark: lower left, red ink: Louis Deglatigny (L.1768a)
collector's mark: lower left, black ink: Germain Seligman (L.3863)
inscription: verso, lower right, graphite: 530 [encircled]
inscription: old mount, lower right, black ink: LA HYRE
inscription: verso, lower right, graphite: 89.1978

Provenance

Possibly Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon de Fabregoules, Aix-en-Provence; possibly Charles Joseph Bathélémi Giraud, Aix-en-Provence; Paul(?) Flury-Hérard (his mark, L.1015, lower left, with his no. 595); his sale, Drouot (Delbergue-Cormont), Paris, 13-15 May 1861, lot 194; Charles-Philippe, Marquis de Chennevières-Pointel, Paris and Bellême (his mark, L.2072, lower left); his sale, Drouot (Chevallier), Paris, 4-7 April 1900, part of lot 262; Louis Deglatigny, Rouen (his mark, L.1768a, lower left); his sale, Drouot (Féral, Catroux et Huteau), Paris, 4-5 November 1937, part of lot 221; Germain Seligman, New York (his mark, L.3863, lower left); Seiden and de Cuevas, Inc., New York; Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, The Melvin R. Seiden Fund and Louis Haskell Daly Fund, 1984.585

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line: Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, The Melvin R. Seiden Fund and Louise Haskell Daly Fund
Accession Year: 1984
Object Number: 1984.585
Division: European and American Art
Contact: am_europeanamerican@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.

Publication History

Walter F. Friedländer, Exhibition of French Seventeenth Century Paintings and Drawings, exh. cat., Jacques Seligmann & Co. (New York, 1953), cat. no. 11, p. 23

Pierre Rosenberg, French Master Drawings of the 17th & 18th Centuries in North American Collections / Dessins français du 17ème & du 18ème siècles des collections américaines, exh. cat., Secker & Warburg (London, 1972-1973), p. 172

John Richardson, ed., The Collection of Germain Seligman: Paintings, Drawings and Works of Art, E. V. Thaw & Co., Artemis S.A., and David Carritt Ltd. (New York, Luxembourg, and London, 1979), cat. no. 42, n.p.

Charles-Phillippe, Marquis de Chennevières-Pointel, “Une collection de dessins d’artistes français”, L'Artiste, L'Artiste (Paris, 1984-1987), p. 261

Pierre Rosenberg and Jacques Thuillier, Laurent de La Hyre, 1606-1656, Galerie de Bayser (Paris, 1985), cat. no. 9, n.p.

Hilliard T. Goldfarb, From Fontainebleau to the Louvre: French Drawing from the Seventeenth-Century, exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art/Indiana University Press (Cleveland, 1989), cat. no. 84, pp.168-69

Pierre Rosenberg and Jacques Thuillier, Laurent de La Hyre, 1606-1656: l’homme et l’oeuvre, exh. cat., Skira (Geneva, 1989), cat. no. 64, p. 157 (with incorrect inventory number)

Alvin L. Clark, Jr., "Review: Laurent La Hyre, 1606-1656: l'homme et l'oeuvre", Master Drawings, Master Drawings Association (1993), vol. 31, no. 2, Summer, pp. 179-84, p. 180 (with incorrect title)

Eckhart Knab and Heinz Widauer, Die Zeichnungen der Französichen Schule von Clouet bis Le Brun, Albertina (Vienna, 1993), p. 542

Louis-Antoine Prat and Laurence Lhinares, La collection Chennevieres: quatre siècles de dessins français, Musée du Louvre (Paris, 2007), cat. no. 664, pp. 391, 761

Diederik Bakhuÿs, Barbara Brejon de Lavergnée, and Elodie Vaysse, L'œil & la main: chefs-d'œuvre du dessin français des XVIe et XVIIe siècles: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen (Rouen, 2019), p. 27, note 9, p. 29

Alvin L. Clark, Jr. and Edouard Kopp, French Drawings from the Age of Claude, Poussin, Watteau, and Fragonard: Highlights from the Collection of the Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2022), cat. no. 10, repr., p. 54

Exhibition History

Exhibition of Seventeenth Century French Paintings and Drawings, Jacques Seligmann & Co., 11/23/1953 - 12/12/1953

From Fontainebleau to the Louvre: French Drawings from the 17th Century, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 12/13/1989 - 01/28/1990; Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/24/1990 - 04/08/1990; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 05/06/1990 - 06/17/1990

Collecting for Harvard: Works Acquired through the Generosity of Melvin R. Seiden, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/03/1993 - 08/15/1993

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