A drawing of a woman holding a cross.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The drawing in brown ink on white paper depicts a female figure facing the viewer, her eyes closed or downcast. She holds a cross in the crook of her left arm, with a crown of thorns hung over its top limb. She wears highly ornamented robes and a crown; a halo or sun rendered behind her head. In her left hand she holds a purse, and in her right hand a coin between her thumb and forefinger. She stands on a low dais before a throne or altar, behind the dais a city is rendered. Above the figure are two angelic figures in flight, holding a circular emblem written "Diva Helena". Below the drawing is a card with cursive script.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1942.68
People
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, French (Montauban 1780 - 1867 Paris)
Title
Saint Helena Holding the Cross
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1817
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/298115

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Brown ink, colored washes, and graphite, partially incised, on white wove paper
Dimensions
actual: 20.7 x 11.5 cm (8 1/8 x 4 1/2 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: l.r., brown ink: J. A. Ingres

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Grenville L. Winthrop, Class of 1886
Accession Year
1942
Object Number
1942.68
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Patricia Condon, "Les Dessins Historiques achevés de J.A.D. Ingres" (part one), Bulletin du Musée Ingres, Amis du Musée Ingres (Montauban, France, 1995), no. 67/68, pp. 3-86, cat. 42; repr. fig. 31
  • Patricia Condon, "Les Dessins Historiques achevés de J.A.D. Ingres" (part two), Bulletin du Musée Ingres, Amis du Musée Ingres (Montauban, France, 1996), no. 69, pp. 3-38, pp. 4, 7, 9, 10, 33, 34
  • Agnes Mongan, David to Corot: French Drawings in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1996), cat. no. 224, repr.
  • Chikashi Kitazaki and Mina Oya, ed., Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., National Museum of Western Art (Ueno, 2002), cat. no. 24, repr. (color)

Exhibition History

  • The Age of Romanticism, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 03/15/1986 - 05/18/1986
  • Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 09/14/2002 - 12/08/2002

Verification Level

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