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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1964.15.2
People
Henri-Edmond Cross, French (Douai, France 1856 - 1910 Saint-Clair, France)
Title
Mediterranean Landscape with Pine; verso: Inscription
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing, sketchbook page
Date
1897
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/6594

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Graphite on off-white wove paper; verso: graphite
Dimensions
16.2 x 12.3 cm (6 3/8 x 4 13/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: Recto, in graphite, in artist's hand: Libre expansion / En la cité future / alléger très sérieusement les deux pins / Surtout le plus petit en contraste avec les / formes rondes, pleines des camphriers [?], etc.
    //
    Les hommes qui prennent leur intérêt /
    pour guide de toute leur vie, ne mettent /
    aucune chaleur ni aux opinions qu'ils /
    soutiennent ni a celles qu'on leur /
    dispute: céder et se taire est tellement [continued on p. 2 verso]
  • inscription: Verso, graphite, in artist's hand: [continued from p. 1 recto] leur habitude, qu'ils la pratiquent / avec leurs égaux, pour s'y préparer / avec leurs supérieurs / Mme de Staël / Delphine
    //
    Dans mer verte des espaces violets / roses = différences de fonds = la / lumière presque semblable sur l'un et / l'autre les lie.
    //
    Nos documents ne devraient pas / dépasser les limites d'une feuille / d'album
    //
    Sartor Resartus / vie et opinions de Herr Teufelsdröckh / par Thomas Carlyle / traduction de Edmond Barthelemy
    //
    … L'amour du Bien pour sa pure Sublimité; …

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Marie Closset (pen name Jean Dominique), gift to May Sarton. given to May Sarton before Closset's death in 1952
May Sarton, gift to Fogg Art Museum, 1964.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of May Sarton
Accession Year
1964
Object Number
1964.15.2
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Commentary
Inscriptions on the recto refer to the scene depicted, to contemporary politics, and to literature.

The words "Libre expansion...etc." probably relate to the writings of the anarchist Jean Grave (1854-1939), whom Cross supported. The free development of the individual in society was one of Grave's concerns. A quote from the French-Swiss writer Madame de Staël's (Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker, Baroness de Staël-Holstein, 1766-1817) novel "Delphine" (1802) extends from recto to verso. For Napoleon this novel about the limits of women's freedom in an aristocratic society was controversial enough to exile the writer.

Some of the inscriptions on the verso probably refer to the scene on the other side of the page (2 recto). At the bottom of the page Cross has written the title of the French edition of "Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdrocke" (1831) by the English writer Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881).

Related Works

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