Description

The chair, brazier, table, and the setting all show Vien's interest in bringing archaeological accuracy to a new level of precision. Yet his delicate handling and graceful palette derive squarely from 18th-century French painting. The gesture of the melancholic figure, with her head on her hand, has roots going back to the Renaissance. Nonetheless, the painting has a wistful rather than tragic tone. Indeed, images of women in interiors, contemplating a letter with longing or sadness, derive from earlier Dutch paintings of daily life, here transformed into an ancient context.

Provenance

Madame Marie-Thérèse Geoffrin [1699-1777], Paris, France (Probably from 1757); Jean Louis Antoine le Vaillant de Damery, Chevalier de l’Ordre Royal Militaire de St-Louis [1723-1803] (c. 1765); Comte Jean-Baptiste Dubarry [1723-1794], Toulouse, France (Until 1774); (Sale: Jean-Pierre-Baptiste Le Brun and Pierre Remy, Paris, Dubarry sale, Nov. 21, 1774, no. 93, probably bought in) (Nov. 21, 1774); (Pierre Remy, Paris, France) (1774-); Louis François, 6th Prince de Conti [1717-1776], Paris, France (Until 1776); (Sale: Pierre Remy, Paris, France, Prince de Conti sale, April 17, 1777, no. 732, sold to Quenet) (April 17, 1777); Quenet, Paris, France (1777-); Jean Paul André des Rasins, Marquis de Saint-Marc [1723-1818], Paris, France, by descent to his daughter, Marie de la Roze (Until 1818); Marie de la Roze (Probably 1818 - 1859); (Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Marquis de Saint-Marc sale, Paris, Feb. 23, 1859, no. 17) (Feb. 23, 1859); (Wildenstein & Company, New York, NY, sold to a private collector, UK) (1955-1980); Private noble collection, UK, sold to Danny Katz and Simon Dickinson through William Thuillier (1980 - probably 1995); (William Thuillier, Paris, France, sold to Danny Katz and Simon Dickinson) (1995); (Danny Katz and Simon Dickinson, London, the latter bought out by the former) (1995); Danny Katz, London, sold to Emmanuel Moatti and Jack Kilgore (1995); (Emmanuel Moatti and Jack Kilgore, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (1995-1996); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio (1996-)