The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 1, 2023

Sweet Melancholy

1756

Joseph-Marie Vien

(French, 1716–1809)

France, 18th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 86.4 x 76.2 x 6.5 cm (34 x 30 x 2 9/16 in.); Unframed: 68 x 55 cm (26 3/4 x 21 5/8 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1996.1

Location

216B French and German

Fun Fact

Look closely—three strands of pearls appear in this painting.

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.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed lower right: "jos. m. vien / 1756"

Joseph-Marie Vien

Born and trained in Montpellier, Vien moved to Paris in 1740 where he quickly achieved success, largely with the support of Natoire and Boucher. Vien won the Grand Prix in 1743 which allowed him to study in Rome until 1750. He entered the Academy in 1754. In 1775 he became director of the French academy in Rome and served as first painter to Louis XVI for less than a year in 1789. In the 1750s, Vien abandoned the Rococo style of Boucher and Natoire in favor of a Neoclassical mode. Besides taking up ancient or "Greek" subjects, his brushwork became smoother and harder, his palette increasingly cooler. Vien is considered on of the earliest Neo-classical painters and in that sense his career parallels that of Benjamin West in Britain. Vien's Neo-classicism was of supreme importance to the formation of the art of Jacques-Louis David, his pupil.
Provenance
Probably from 1757
Madame Marie-Thérèse Geoffrin [1699-1777], Paris, France 1
c. 1765
Jean Louis Antoine le Vaillant de Damery, Chevalier de l’Ordre Royal Militaire de St-Louis [1723-1803] 2
Until 1774
Comte Jean-Baptiste Dubarry [1723-1794], Toulouse, France
Nov. 21, 1774
(Sale: Jean-Pierre-Baptiste Le Brun and Pierre Remy, Paris, Dubarry sale, Nov. 21, 1774, no. 93, probably bought in)
1774-
(Pierre Remy, Paris, France) 3
Until 1776
Louis François, 6th Prince de Conti [1717-1776], Paris, France
April 17, 1777
(Sale: Pierre Remy, Paris, France, Prince de Conti sale, April 17, 1777, no. 732, sold to Quenet)
1777-
Quenet, Paris, France 4
Until 1818
Jean Paul André des Rasins, Marquis de Saint-Marc [1723-1818], Paris, France, by descent to his daughter, Marie de la Roze
Probably 1818 - 1859
Marie de la Roze 5
Feb. 23, 1859
(Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Marquis de Saint-Marc sale, Paris, Feb. 23, 1859, no. 17)
1955-1980
(Wildenstein & Company, New York, NY, sold to a private collector, UK)
1980 - probably 1995
Private noble collection, UK, sold to Danny Katz and Simon Dickinson through William Thuillier
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) 6
1995
Danny Katz, London, sold to Emmanuel Moatti and Jack Kilgore
1995-1996
(Emmanuel Moatti and Jack Kilgore, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1996-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

Provenance Footnotes

1 Geoffrin, one of Vien’s patrons and host of a salon that he frequently attended, purchased the painting directly from the artist for 400 livres, possibly at the Salon of 1757.
2 Some versions of the painting’s provenance list Damery followed by Durbarry, while they appear in the reverse order in others. Although this is not confirmed, it seems that Damery should appear first for the following reasons: 1) An engraving after the painting by Beauvarlet, published c. 1765, situates the painting in the Damery collection; 2) In all versions of this provenance, Conti is followed, directly or indirectly, by the Marquis de Saint-Marc; if the painting appeared in the November 18-19, 1803 sale of Damery’s collection, Damery would fall between Conti and the Marquis in the provenance, which is the never the case; 3) This painting, a prominent titled work by Vien, is not listed by title in the 1803 Damery sale, which includes a lot containing works by Vien, some of which are named; 4) Pierre Remy came into posession of the the painting at the 1774 Dubarry sale, sold it to the Prince de Conti, and then auctioned off the Conti collection in 1777; that Remy acquired the painting at the Dubarry sale and is then associated with the painting for the next three years strongly suggests that Damery was not involved with the painting by this point. It is possible that Damery sold the painting in 1764, when he was forced to sell off part of his paintings collections for financial reasons.
3 Remy, who is indicated as the buyer at the Dubarry sale by an annotation in the catalogue, presided over both the Dubarry and Prince de Conti auctions, and thus he was likely not the "buyer" of the painting. Rather, the painting was probably unsold or was bought in at the Dubarry sale, and thus the Vien remained with the auction house or with Remy, in his capacity as an agent, until the Prince de Conti somehow acquired it.
4 According to the Getty Provenance Index, Quenet purchased several hundred objects at auctions in the 1770s and 1780s, but beyond this, nothing is known about his identity.
5 Marie de la Roze (née de Saint-Marc) inherited the paintings in her father's collection, eventually putting them up for sale at Hôtel Drouot in 1859.
6 Katz and Dickinson purchased the painting from Thuillier; Katz then bought out Dickinson and sold the painting to Moatti and Kilgore within several days.
Citations
Exhibited at the Salon of 1757. no. 31
Le Brun, Jean-Baptiste-Pierre, Jean-Baptiste Du Barry, and Pierre Remy. Catalogue de tableaux originaux des bons maitres des trois ecoles, figures et bustes de marbre et de bronze, porcelaines et autres objets curieux qui composent le cabinet de M.L.C. de D. 1774. pp. 37-38, no. 93
Pierre Remy (Firm). Catalogue d'une riche collection de tableaux des maîtres les plus célebres des trois écoles: qui composent le cabinet de feu son Altesse Sérenissime Monseigneur le Prince de Conti, prince du sang, & grand prieur de France. Paris: Muzier père, Pierre Remy, 1777. pp. 199-200, no. 732
Hôtel Drouot, Eugène Escribe, and Charles Rouillard. Catalogue des 17 tableaux originaux de l’école française et d’un tableau de l’école italienne composant la collection de feu M. le Marquis de Saint-Marc. Paris: Union des Arts, 1859.
Lejeune, Théodore. Guide théorique et pratique de l'amateur de tableaux, étude sur les imitateurs et les copistes ... par Théodore Lejeune. Paris: Vve J. Renouard (-Gide), 1863. p. 275
Lejeune, Théodore. Guide théorique et pratique de l'amateur de tableaux Études sur les imitateurs et les copistes des maîtres de toutes les écoles dont les oeuvres forment la base ordinaire des galeries. 1. 1. Paris: Renouard, 1864.
Roy, E. "Vien et son temps," Revue du XIX siecle (October 1, 1866). p.92
La Roque, Louis de. Peintres, sculpteurs et architectes [montpelliérains]. 1877. p. 52
Ségur, Pierre de. Le Royaume de la rue Saint-Honoré, Mme Geoffrin et sa fille, par Pierre de Ségur. (15 janvier 1897.). Paris: C. Lévy, 1897. p. 404
Saint-Aubin, Gabriel de, and Émile Dacier. Catalogues de ventes et livrets de salons illustrés par Gabriel de Saint-Aubin. Paris: Société de reproduction des dessins de maîtres, 1910. pp. 22, 27-8. no. 93
Mireur, Hippolyte. Dictionnaire des ventes d'art faites en France et à l'étranger pendant les XVIIIme & XIXme siècles. Paris: Maison D'Éditions d'œuvres artistiques, Ch. de Vincenti, 1911. p. 369
G. de Lastic Saint-Jal, "La reine de la rue Sainte-Honore," L Veil, 33 (September 1957). p. 53
Gaehtgens, Thomas W., and Jacques Lugand. Joseph-Marie Vien: peintre du roi (1716-1809). Paris [France]: ARTHENA, 1988. pp. 26, 76, 80, 161-62, no. 141, pi, X
"Vien, Vers un Nouveau Style" Connaissance de Arts no. 446 (April 1989). pp. 94-95
Peck, Amelia. Period Rooms in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996.
Cleveland Museum of Art, “The Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Major Works,” March 18, 1996, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
Cleveland Museum of Art Annual Report, 1996 (Cleveland: Cleveland Musuem of Art, 1997). pp. 37, 48
Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main. Mehr Licht: Europa um 1770 : Die bildende Kunst der Aufklärung. Munich: Klinkhard & Biermann, 1999. pp. 25-26, no. 8
Clair, Jean. Melancholie: Genie und Wahnsinn in der Kunst ; zu Ehren von Raymond Klibansky (1905-2005), dem grossen Gelehrten und Erforscher der Geschichte der Melancholie ; Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, (10. Okober 2005 bis 16. Januar) ; Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (17. Februar bis 7. Mai 2006). Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2005. p. 278, no. 6.
Rochebrune, Marie-Laure de, and Catherine Gougeon. El gusto "a la griega": nacimiento del neoclasicismo francés. Madrid: Patrimonio Nacional, 2007. p. 99, fig, 70
Hunter-Stiebel, Penelope, Philippe Le Leyzour, Olivier Baumont, Noémi Rime, Vincent Lievre-Picard, Olivier Baumont, François Bazola, Destouches, and Philibert Cardonne. La Volupté Du Goût: French Painting in the Age of Madame De Pompadour. Paris: Somogy, 2008. cat. no. 54, 200-201
Roggeman, Anouchka. "De la beauté au temps de la Pompadour". L'œil ; Tour voir - Tout savoir - Tout l'Art! no. 607, (Nov. 2008). p. 100.
Mazur, Aneta. Pod znakiem Saturna: topika melancholii w późnej twórczości Elizy Orzeszkowej. Opole: Wydawn. Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2010. p. 377, nr 11
John Stephen Hallam, Paris Salon Exhibitions: 1667-1880 (A History in Collage), 2012, (October 23, 2012). sites.google.com
Beauvarlet, “La douce mélancolie,” The British Museum, accessed Nov. 11, 2013. www.britishmuseum.org
Matthiesen Gallery, accessed Dec. 3, 2013, http://www.matthiesengallery.com/info.asp?Id_painting=432. www.matthiesengallery.com
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 194
Joseph Baillio, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Feb. 18, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
Bückling, Mareike. Gefährliche Liebschaften Kunst und Sinnlichkeit im Rokoko. München, Germany: Hirmer, 2015. Mentioned & reproduced: P. 36, abb. 36
Nolan, Dennis. Keepers of the Flame: Parrish, Wyeth, Rockwell and the Narrative Tradition. Stockbridge: MA, 2018. Mentioned: p. 153; Reproduced: p. 155
Michel, Cecilia. “Prologue: Les apories du discours théorique: lumière et couleur dans la littérature artistique et la pratique des peintres. In Lexicographie artistique: formes, usages et enjeux dans l'Europe modern, 11–25. Michèle-Caroline Heck, ed. Montpellier: Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée, 2018. Mentioned: p. 41; Reproduced: p. [42]
Schneider, Marlen, Aude Virey-Wallon, and Philippe Bordes. Belle comme Vénus: le portrait historié entre Grand Siècle et Lumières. Collection Passages, Volume 59. Paris: Maison des sciences de l'homme, 2020. Reproduced: p. 274, fig. 90
Ziskin, Rochelle. Private Salons and the Art World of Enlightenment Paris.
Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2022. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 240-240, fig. 40
Exhibition history

Exhibited at the Salon of 1757. no. 31

More Light. Europe Around 1770. Art and Enlightenment. Städelsches Kunstinstitut im Städtischen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main, Franfurt am Main, Germany (August 22, 1999-January 9, 2000).

A Voluptuous Taste: French Painting in the Age of Madame de Pompadour. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours, Tours, France (October 11, 2008-January 12, 2009); Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (organizer) (February 7-May 17, 2009).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1996.1