The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Classical Landscape

Classical Landscape

1779
(French, 1750–1819)
France, 18th century
black gouache and brush and gray wash, over black chalk and graphite, heightened with white gouache
Sheet: 41.3 x 48.3 cm (16 1/4 x 19 in.); Secondary Support: 43.6 x 52.1 cm (17 3/16 x 20 1/2 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1980.91
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The ritual seen here, in which women cut their hair and offer it to a god, is rarely depicted in the visual arts.

Description

The leading landscape painter of the late 18th century, Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes was also an important theoretician whose book Elements of Practical Perspective influenced generations of French artists who followed. In the book, the artist described two ways of envisioning nature: "seeing it as it is," and "seeing it as it could be." He preferred the latter, believing that it demanded more of the imagination than merely copying the natural world. The perfection of the setting in this drawing reflects the noble, classical subject: three maidens cutting their hair and offering it on an altar to a river god.
  • by 1975-before 1979
    (Heim Gallery, London)
    by 1979
    (Shepherd Gallery, New York)
    after 1979-1980
    (Jean-Pierre Selz, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1980-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Exhibition of French Drawings: Neo-Classicism. Exh. Cat. London: Heim Gallery, 1975. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 121
    Rohowsky, Peter S. Nineteenth Century French and Other Continental Watercolors and Oil Sketches. Exh. Cat. New York: Shepherd Gallery, 1979. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 134
    DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. Mentioned: pp. 120-121, p. 289, no. 46; Reproduced: p. 121
    Marlais, Michael, John Varriano, and Wendy M. Watson. Valenciennes, Daubigny, and the Origins of French Landscape Painting. Exh. Cat. South Hadley, MA: Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, 2004. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 30
  • Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
    Views and Visions: French Landscape Painting from Classicism to Naturalism. Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, MA (organizer) (September 17-December 12, 2004).
    Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
    French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995).
    Treasures on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 10-July 24, 1988).
    French Prints and Drawings in the Age of the Bourbons, 1589-1792. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 2-May 16, 1982).
    Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).
    Nineteenth Century French and Other Continental Watercolors and Oil Sketches. Shepherd Gallery, New York (Winter 1979).
    Exhibition of French Drawings: Neo-Classicism. Heim Gallery, London (February 20 - March 27, 1975).
  • {{cite web|title=Classical Landscape|url=false|author=Pierre Henri de Valenciennes|year=1779|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.91