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Jan 4, 2013

Oct 28, 2008

Liberty

c. 1865–75

Gustave Doré

(French, 1832–1883)

France, 19th century

Brush and brown wash and gray and white gouache with graphite

Support: Beige wove paper

Sheet: 46.5 x 32.9 cm (18 5/16 x 12 15/16 in.)

Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.383

Location

not on view

Description

Gustave Doré is best known for his skill as a draftsman (often seen in book illustrations), as well as for his sense of the fantastic and visionary. In the present drawing, his fluid washes and flowing lines of white add to the dramatic scene of a liberating angel breaking chains. The drawing relates to Doré's Defense of Paris (Memories of 1870), which treated an event from the recent Franco-Prussian War with a figure representing Liberty. A major difference between the painting and the drawing is that Doré represented soldiers in contemporary uniforms in the painting, but in the drawing of Liberty, he conceived a broader theme in which crowns and medieval costumes evoke an earlier time.

Artist biography

Gustave Doré

French illustrator, painter and sculptor, best known for his illustrations of epic literature, such as those by Dante, Cervantes, Hugo, and Milton, as well as contemporary texts, such as those by Balzac. In 1872, he began to record the conditions of London slums. These engravings are rich in dramatic detail and show a harsh and nightmarish world. His work influenced that of Van Gough and later, the Symbolists.

Inscriptions

Inscription

lower right, in graphite: 186x48x63; stamped, lower right, in red ink: ATELIER / GDORE [circled]

Provenance

by 1875-1883

Estate of Gustave Doré [1832-1883, L. 681a] ¹

1885

(Hotel Drouot, Doré studio sale, Paris, April 13, 1885, no. 96) ²

1989

(Hotel Drouot, Paris, June 22, 1989, no. 15) ³

1989-1990

(Galerie Jacques Fischer-Chantal Kiener, Paris, sold to Muriel Butkin, Shaker Heights, OH)

1990-2008

Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

2008

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Provenance Footnotes

¹Stamped at lower right, in red ink.

²As "La Liberté. Dessin au pinceau avec rehauts de blanc. Haut., 45 cent.; larg., 32 cent."

³As "La Liberté brisant ses chaînes"

Citations

Hotel Drouot, Paris. Catalogue Des Tableaux...son atelier par feu Gustave Doré. April 13, 1885. Lot 96. Mentioned: p. 20

De Grazia, Diane. "Drawings in Cleveland: The Evolution of a Collection." In Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1-15. Diane De Grazia and Carter E. Foster, eds. Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in Association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 10, pp. 10-11

De Grazia, Diane. "The Evolution of a Collection: Drawings in Cleveland." Master Drawings 38, no. 3 (2000): 249-60. Mentioned: p. 258

DeGrazia, Diane and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 11

Foster, Carter E., Sylvain Bellenger, and Patrick Shaw Cable. French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 47, pp. 104-105

Zafran, Eric, ed. Fantasy and Faith: The Art of Gustave Doré. New York: Dahesh Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned: p. 40, p. 180; Reproduced: fig. 35, p. 40

Exhibition history

French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Liberty|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.383|author=Gustave Doré|year=c. 1865–75|access-date=06 December 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Liberty

Liberty

Gustave Doré

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Gustave Doré

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