CMA: Modern European Painting and Sculpture

Medal of Corot

Medal of Corot https://clevelandart.org/art/1983.157

Although this scene was once thought to have been painted by Eugéne Boudin (1824–1898), it's creator has yet to be identified.

Banks of the Seine https://clevelandart.org/art/1940.540

Henry Francis Playter

Henry Francis Playter https://clevelandart.org/art/1995.45

The River Loire at Nevers

The River Loire at Nevers https://clevelandart.org/art/1944.84

This double portrait, exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1883, depicts the wife and daughter of Besnard's friend and fellow artist Henri Lerolle. Besnard emphasized their close relationship by placing Madeleine Lerolle and her daughter Yvonne in the familiar setting of the artist's studio, reflecting the artist's stated ambition of portraying figures in the natural setting of the world in which they live.

Madeleine Lerolle and Her Daughter Yvonne https://clevelandart.org/art/1977.120

This portrait typifies painting in Vienna between 1815 and 1865, an era known as the Biedermeier period, during which the Hapsburg government promoted positive artistic depictions of Viennese life and culture. The mountains in the background express both the artist's romantic fascination with nature and patriotic devotion to his Austrian homeland. The sitter, Crescentia Seilern, was a prestigious member of the aristocracy who married Hungarian reformist patriot István Széchenyi.

Countess Széchenyi https://clevelandart.org/art/1988.57

Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (1792–1868) was a composer most famous for his comic operas. Although of Italian birth, much of Rossini's later life was spent in Paris, where he undoubtedly sat for this portrait for David d'Angers, whose ambition it was to sculpt portraits of all the famous people of his day.

Bust of Rossini https://clevelandart.org/art/1980.182

Father Pierre-Julien Eymard

Father Pierre-Julien Eymard https://clevelandart.org/art/1972.279

Spaniel and Duck

Spaniel and Duck https://clevelandart.org/art/1960.92

Self-Portrait

Self-Portrait https://clevelandart.org/art/1980.266

Jaguar

Jaguar https://clevelandart.org/art/1939.261

Trained as a printmaker and book illustrator, Meissonier specialized in small paintings depicting scenes from French history and literature. This painting on wood panel depicts a man dressed like a character from The Three Musketeers (published in 1844) by Alexandre Dumas père. Such paintings, admired for their technical virtuosity and romantic subjects, were immensely popular. Meissonier also painted contemporary military subjects and themes and became an arch-foe of the Realist painter Gustave Courbet.

On a Terrace https://clevelandart.org/art/1986.68

Polyhymnia, Muse of Eloquence; Erato, Muse of Lyrical Poetry; Apollo, God of Light, Eloquence, Poetry and the Fine Arts with Urania, Muse of Astronomy; Calliope, Muse of Epic Poetry; Clio, Muse of History

Polyhymnia, Muse of Eloquence; Erato, Muse of Lyrical Poetry; Apollo, God of Light, Eloquence, Poetry and the Fine Arts with Urania, Muse of Astronomy; Calliope, Muse of Epic Poetry; Clio, Muse of History https://clevelandart.org/art/2003.6

Spaniel Pointing a Rabbit

Spaniel Pointing a Rabbit https://clevelandart.org/art/1960.91

Shepherdess with Sheep

Shepherdess with Sheep https://clevelandart.org/art/1996.273

Portrait of a Man

Portrait of a Man https://clevelandart.org/art/1941.556

Portrait of Arthur Wellesley, later 1st Duke of Wellington

Portrait of Arthur Wellesley, later 1st Duke of Wellington https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.1154

On the night of October 16, 1834, fire consumed the Houses of Parliament in London. Londoners gathered along the banks of the river Thames to gaze in awe at the horrifying spectacle. Initially, a low tide made it difficult to pump water to fire-fighting equipment on land; likewise, it hampered steamers towing fire-fighting equipment up the river. Although the tides eventually shifted, the effort was futile, as the fire burned uncontrollably for hours. Turner records this as the steamers in the lower-right corner head toward the flames.Although Turner based the painting on an actual event, he used the disaster as the starting point to express man’s helplessness when confronted with the destructive powers of nature, here dissolved in brilliant swaths of color and variable atmospheric effects that border on abstraction.

The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16 October 1834 https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.647

Bertrand was a military engineer and companion of Emperor Napoleon, who described the bridges his friend Bertrand built for the French crossing of the Danube at Wagram in 1809 as the finest since the Romans.

Portrait of Henri Gratien, Comte Bertrand https://clevelandart.org/art/1940.1211

Axis Deer

Axis Deer https://clevelandart.org/art/1940.566

Standing Saint and Saint in Red Cloak (pair)

Standing Saint and Saint in Red Cloak (pair) https://clevelandart.org/art/1957.506

Portrait of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French

Portrait of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French https://clevelandart.org/art/2000.106

The Furnace

The Furnace https://clevelandart.org/art/1946.347

Degas produced numerous wax sculptures during his lifetime that were cast in bronze shortly after his death. This late work continues his fascination with dancers and the physical sensation of the human body in motion. Marks made by artist's fingers are visible in the bronze surface.

Dancer Looking at the Sole of her Right Foot https://clevelandart.org/art/2028.1947

Abandoning the strict frontality and symmetry of the neoclassical style, Carpeaux was instead inspired by French portrait busts of the 1600s and 1700s. This bust probably depicts Fanny Coleman, an English actress with whom Carpeaux may have had a romantic relationship. The turn of the head and the undulating drapery infuse the figure with a sense of drama. Patronized by Napoleon III, Carpeaux created the celebrated figural group <em>La Danse</em> for the facade of the Opera Garnier in Paris, a work renowned for its sensual nudes, but denounced by contemporaries as an affront to public decency.

Bust of a Lady (possibly Fanny Coleman) https://clevelandart.org/art/1975.5

Sketch for "The Oriental Dream"

Sketch for "The Oriental Dream" https://clevelandart.org/art/1996.300

Marshlands

Marshlands https://clevelandart.org/art/1964.290

The languorous, sensuous pose of this woman is strongly reminiscent of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres's popular paintings of odalisques, female slaves, and concubines in Turkish harems. Much of this canvas has been left thinly painted or entirely blank, suggesting that it was a figural study rather than a finished work of art. The French Academy in the 1800s viewed the depiction of the nude as the ultimate measure of an artist's skill. Because models changed poses frequently, students had to work quickly and without embellishment. Here the artist completed only those areas needed to emphasize the contours of the model's body.

Study of a Reclining Nude https://clevelandart.org/art/1939.63

Circular Plaquette with Frieze of Mannerist Figures

Circular Plaquette with Frieze of Mannerist Figures https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.140

Portrait of Antoine Roy

Portrait of Antoine Roy https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.295