Funeral for Marie-Thérèse of Spain, Dauphine of France, in the Church of Nôtre Dame, Paris, on November 24, 1746

Description

As an official draftsman to the king, Charles-Nicolas Cochin was responsible for documenting royal events, festivities, and ceremonies. When the Spanish princess Marie-Thérèse, wife of Louis XV’s eldest son, died in childbirth, she was given two lavish funerals: one at the Church of Saint Denis, and another, represented in this drawing, at Notre Dame in Paris. Cochin’s drawing shows how the interior of the gothic cathedral was theatrically redecorated in the current rococo style. Beneath the majestic canopy in the center of the nave, an ornate arched structure, a baldequin, contains the princess’s coffin.

Provenance

Private Collection, France (?-?); (Didier Aaron, Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?-2000); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2000-)

Funeral for Marie-Thérèse of Spain, Dauphine of France, in the Church of Nôtre Dame, Paris, on November 24, 1746

Charles-Nicolas Cochin

c. 1746

Accession Number

2000.2

Medium

Pen and black ink and gray wash heightened with white gouache on cream laid paper, incised (with graphite) for transfer

Dimensions

Sheet: 45 x 30.9 cm (17 11/16 x 12 3/16 in.)

Classification

Drawing

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

John L. Severance Fund