The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 10, 2023

A Seated Shepherdess

c. 1836

Jules Dupré

(French, 1811–1889)

France, 19th century

Black chalk with white heightening and white pastel on brown paper laid down on board

Sheet: 61.1 x 47.6 cm (24 1/16 x 18 3/4 in.)

Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2009.314

Catalogue raisonné: Abrun D.219

Location

101B Prints & Drawings

Fun Fact

Dupré was known for his evocative skies reflecting different atmospheric conditions.

Description

Unique for Jules Dupré, who mostly recorded landscapes, this sheet features a woman holding a crook for herding sheep. Many middle-class collectors at the time were eager for images of rural life while cities grew and factories proliferated. Cleveland’s drawing forms a pair with a similar depiction of a male shepherd, also created using wetted and burnished white pastel on earthy brown paper. It is one of numerous objects in these galleries formerly owned by Clevelander Muriel Butkin, a passionate scholar and collector of French art from the 1800s who bequeathed nearly 300 drawings to the museum.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed, lower right, in black chalk: Jules Dupre

Jules Dupré

Like other members of the Barbizon School, Dupré began his career as a porcelain painter, working in the factory of his father François Dupré. Gradually becoming more influenced by naturalistic landscape painting, he took lessons from Jean-Michel Diébolt, and began making sojourns to paint natural settings in the provinces. Dupré's work differed from others' in the Barbizon School because he did not strictly associate himself with the area around the Forest of Fontainebleau, instead preferring the village of L'Isle d'Adam north of Paris, and his work tended to be more romantic. Like many of his Barbizon contemporaries, Duprée was influential with the Impressionists.
Provenance
1889 - 1890
Estate of the artist
1890
(his posthumous sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, January 30, 1890, probably no. 126)
1929
(sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, January 31, 1929, no. 13)
1977
(sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, New York, May 26, 1977, no. 29, sold to Shepherd Gallery, New York)
1977
(Shepherd Gallery, New York, sold to Muriel Butkin, Shaker Heights, OH)
1977-2008
Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
2009-
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Catalogue des tableaux et dessins provenant de l’atelier Jules Dupré. Paris: Hotel Drouot, 1890. Mentioned: p. 43, probably no. 126
Catalogue des tableaux modernes [. . .] appartenant à divers. Paris: Hôtel Drouot, 1929. Mentioned: p. 7, no. 13
Lang, L.-Maurice. La Cote des tableaux, ou Annuaire des ventes [. . .] guide du marchand, de l’amateur, 11:91. Paris: L.-Maurice Lang, 1929. Mentioned: vol. 11, p. 91
Aubrun, Marie-Madeleine. Jules Dupré, 1811–1889: Catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre peint, dessiné, et gravé. Paris: L. Laget, 1974. Mentioned: p. 376, no. D219
Fine Nineteenth Century European Paintings. New York: Christie, Manson and Woods, 1977. Mentioned: p. 16, no. 29
Rohowsky, Peter S. French Nineteenth Century Drawings, Pastels, Watercolors. Exh. cat. New York: Shepherd Gallery, 1977. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 33
Aubrun, Marie-Madeleine. Jules Dupré, 1811–1889: Catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre, supplément. Paris: M.-M. Aubrun, 1982. Mentioned: p.191, no. D219; Reproduced: p. 196
Exhibition history

French Nineteenth Century Drawings, Pastels, Watercolors. Shepherd Gallery, New York (November 1977–February 1978).

Pure Color: Pastels from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 19, 2016-March 19, 2017).

Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-April 30, 2023).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2009.314