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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1898.368
People
Joseph-Marie Vien, the Elder, French (Montpellier 1716 - 1809 Paris)
Title
Ancient Sacrifice in an Ionic Temple
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1757
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/299733

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black ink and gray-brown wash over black chalk on cream antique laid paper, framing lines in brown and black ink and black chalk, blue paper borders adhered to face, laid down on a decorated mount with remnant of a ledger from 1713 on the verso
Dimensions
31.4 x 24.9 cm (12 3/8 x 9 13/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: mount, lower right, brown ink: J M Vien 1757
  • inscription: lower left, brown ink: 52
  • inscription: in drawing, on first step, lower left, brown ink: [effaced]
  • watermark: none
  • inscription: mount, lower left, black chalk: 158
  • inscription: mount, lower right, black chalk: 1898.368 409.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
The artist’s estate; his estate sale, Olivier, Paris, 17 May 1809 and the following days, part of lot 52 (as "Young Woman Offering a Sacrifice"), sold; to François Destouches; John Witt Randall, Boston; to his sister, Belinda Lull Randall, Boston, by descent, gift; to Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Belinda L. Randall from the collection of John Witt Randall, inv. no. 1898.368

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Belinda L. Randall from the collection of John Witt Randall
Accession Year
1898
Object Number
1898.368
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Thomas W. Gaehtgens and Jacques Lugand, Joseph-Marie Vien, peintre du roi (1716-1809), Arthena (Paris, 1988), cat. no. D78, pp. 242, 400 (as "Young Woman Offering a Sacrifice")
  • Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Barbara Brejon de Lavergnée, Jean-Francois Méjanès, Alain Mérot, Margaret Morgan Grasselli, Sophie Raux-Carpentier, William W. Robinson, Marianne Roland Michel, and Pierre Rosenberg, Mastery & Elegance: Two Centuries of French Drawings from the Collection of Jeffrey E. Horvitz, exh. cat., ed. Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, 1998), pp. 41, 51-n.104 (as "Ancient Sacrifice in an Ionic Temple")
  • William W. Robinson, "John Witt Randall: An Early American Collector of Later German Drawings", Master Drawings, Master Drawings Association (New York, 2001), vol. 39, no. 2, Summer, pp. 159-168, pp. 163, 167-n.16
  • 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. 74, repr., p. 15

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2220 18th-19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/05/2017 - 04/19/2017

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