1978.136: Mercury Presenting the Lyre to Apollo; verso: Study for a Muse

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1978.136

People

Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne, French (1631-1681)
Previously attributed to School of Simon Vouet, French (Paris 1590 - 1649 Paris)

Title

Mercury Presenting the Lyre to Apollo; verso: Study for a Muse

Other Titles

Former Title: Mercury Presenting the Lyre to Apollo on Mount Parnassus; verso: Study for a Muse
Former Title: Assembly of the Gods

Classification

Drawings

Work Type

drawing

Date

c. 1673

Culture

French

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/295995

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Black chalk, brown ink, and gray wash on light-tan antique laid paper, framing lines in black chalk; verso: black chalk

Dimensions

irregular: 28 x 27.3 cm (11 x 10 3/4 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription: old mount, verso, brown ink, in the hand of the Marquis de Chennevières-Pointel: 573 École de Simon Vouet. Apollon prenant sa lyre des mains de Mércure / au-dessous les muses groupées sur le Parnasse / beau projet de plafond je le crois d’un élève de S. Vouet de quelque Dorigny. Acheté rue des Petits-Augustins, au coin de la rue des Beaux-Arts, chez un brocanteur qui a occupé / temporairement la maison où est établi aujourd’hui une libraire d’archéologie et d’architecture / Ph. de Ch.
• watermark: none

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Charles-Philippe, Marquis de Chennevières-Pointel, Paris and Bellême (his mark, L.2072 or 2073, lower left); possibly his sale, 3-7 April 1900, possibly part of lot 518 or 532; sale, Paris, May 1977; Jacques Petithory, Paris; Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Marian H. Phinney Fund, inv. no. 1978.136

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Marian H. Phinney Fund

Accession Year

1978

Object Number

1978.136

Division

European and American Art

Contact

am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Publication History

• Nicolas Sainte Fare Garnot, Philippe de Champaigne (1602-1674), Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne (1631-1681), Nicolas de Plattemontagne (1631-1706), Galerie de Bayser (Paris, 2000), cat. no. 39, p. 26
• Nicolas Sainte Fare Garnot, "Jean Baptiste de Champaigne et l'oratoire de la reine au château de Versailles", Dessins français aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles: Rencontres de l'École du Louvre, Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, 2003), no. 17, pp. 219-29, p. 220
• Nicolas Milovanovic, Les Grands Appartements de Versailles sous Louis XIV: catalogue des décors peints, Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, 2005), p. 126
• Louis-Antoine Prat and Laurence Lhinares, La collection Chennevieres: quatre siècles de dessins français, Musée du Louvre (Paris, 2007), cat. no. 614, pp. 142-43, 378-79
• Frédérique Lanoë and Pierre Rosenberg, Trois maîtres du dessin: Philippe de Champaigne (1602–1674), Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne (1631–1681), Nicolas de Plattemontagne (1631–1706), exh. cat., Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, 2009), cat. no. 81, pp. 101-102
• Louis-Antoine Prat, Le dessin français au XVIIe siècle, Somogy Éditions d'Art (Paris, 2013), pp. 367, 650
• 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. 36, repr.; detail repr. p. 117; verso detail repr. p. 116

Exhibition History

• 32Q: 2400 French/Italian/Spanish, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/07/2022 - 07/18/2022

Verification Level