1898.368: Ancient Sacrifice in an Ionic Temple

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

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

• 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