The Illness of Pierrot
Framed: 19 1/4 x 22 1/2 x 1 3/4 inches (48.9 x 57.15 x 4.45 cm)
- 126
Œuvres de Th. Couture, Palais de l’industrie, Paris, September 1880, no. 280, as Pierrot malade.
Great Stories in Art, Denver Art Museum, February 13–March 27, 1966, hors cat.
Couture: Paintings and Drawings in American Collections, University of Maryland Art Gallery, College Park, February 5–March 15, 1970, no. 24, as The Illness of Pierrot.
Reality, Fantasy, and Flesh: Tradition in Nineteenth Century Art, University of Kentucky Art Gallery, Lexington, October 28–November 18, 1973, no. 21, as The Illness of Pierrot.
Paris—New York: A Continuing Romance; Wildenstein Centenary Exhibition, for the Benefit of the New York Public Library, Wildenstein and Co., New York, November 3–December 17, 1977, no. 61, as The Illness of Pierrot.
Genre, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 5–May 15, 1983, no. 35, as The Illness of Pierrot.
Thomas Couture produced many paintings, including The Illness of Pierrot, that satirized French society. Here, he mocks the medical profession. Despite the ample evidence of Pierrot’s excessive drinking, the doctor checking Pierrot’s pulse remains perplexed by his illness. An inscription reads: “Science makes the doctor see what is not and prevents him from seeing what is obvious to everyone.”
Couture was an Academically trained artist who oversaw an important teaching studio in Paris. Pierre Puvis de Chavannes was one of his students. Couture is best known for his portraits and everyday scenes that instructed his viewers to lead a good and blameless life.
Purchased from the artist by William Tilden Blodgett (1823–1875), New York, after June 1, 1868 [1];
Vincent-Claude Laurent-Richard (1811–1886), Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, by May 23, 1878–at least September 1880 [2];
Possibly by descent to his daughter, Augustine-Victoire Charcot (née Laurent-Richard, 1834–1899), and his son-in-law, Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893), Paris, by February 22, 1886 [3];
Probably Jason “Jay” Gould (1836–1892), New York, before December 2, 1892 [4];
William “Vincent” Astor (1891–1959), New York, before April 20, 1926;
Purchased at his sale, Paintings, furnishings and architectural fittings of the Astor residence, 840 Fifth Avenue, New York: paintings of the XIX century French school, furniture, tapestries and objects of art, carved wood wall paneling, painted insets and ceilings, bronzes and ironwork , American Art Association, New York, April 20, 1926, lot 410, as Pierrot Malade, 1926;
Marcel Jules Rougeron (1875–1954), New York, by 1932 [5];
With J. M. Hardy, Van Diest Gallery, New York, by April 5, 1932 [6];
Purchased from Van Diest, through Harold Woodbury Parsons, by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1932.
[1] See letter from Edouard Armand-Dumaresq (1826–1895) to Thomas Couture, June 1, 1868, Archives Couture, Musée national du château de Compiègne, in which he relays a message from Blodgett, communicated to him via American painter Edward Harrison May (1824–1887). Blodgett wanted to know when Couture expected to finish The Illness of Pierrot and said his banker in Paris would transfer payment to the artist as soon as it was ready. We thank Jean-François Delmas, Conservateur général du Patrimoine, Musée national du château de Compiègne, for sharing this piece of correspondence.
In any case, Laurent-Richard owned the painting as of 1880, when he lent it to the Palais de l’industrie, Paris, in September; see Rager Ballu, Catalogue des œuvres de Th. Couture exposées au Palais de l’industrie, exh. cat. (Paris: A. Quantin, 1880), 51.
[3] Although it is unclear if the painting was still in Laurent-Richard’s collection at his death, his daughter Augustine-Victorine inherited his art collection. She and her husband Jean-Martin were art collectors, and Jean-Martin was a renowned Professor of Neurology. Considering the subject matter, it is possible that the Charcots kept the work after Laurent-Richard’s death in 1886.
[4] See Georges Bertauts-Couture, Thomas Couture (1815–1879): sa vie, son œuvre, son caractère, ses idées, -sa méthode (Paris: Le Garrec, 1932), 100. No further record of this painting in Gould’s collection has been found. While it is possible that Gould’s eldest daughter Helen Miller Gould (1868–1938) inherited the painting along with his mansion, Lyndhurst, she did not sell many of her father’s paintings. If this painting belonged to Gould, it is likely that he deaccessioned it himself before his death in 1892. See letter from Henry J. Duffy, curator at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, New York, to Danielle Hampton Cullen, the Nelson-Atkins, December 22, 2021, NAMA curatorial files.
[5] Marcel Jules Rougeron (1875–1954) was a paintings restorer, art dealer, and collector in New York . See stenciled label on verso of painting lower left corner, in shape of palette,: PICTURE RESTORATION/ROUGERON/NEW YORK/94 PARK AVENUE.
The Couture painting, Pierrot in Criminal Court, now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, shares some of the same provenance: Jay Gould, the 1926 Astor sale, and Rougeron.
[6] The museum considered purchasing the painting as early as March 1, 1932, although it is unclear if, at this time, the painting was part of the Van Diest Gallery’s stock, or part of Rougeron’s collection with J.M. Hardy acting as an intermediary in this transaction. If the latter, the Van Diest had the painting for a very short time, since it was purchased by the Nelson-Atkins on April 5; see letter from Harold Woodbury Parsons to J. C. Nichols, March 1, 1932, NAMA curatorial files.
advertisement, La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, no. 13 (March 30, 1878): 101.
advertisement, La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, no. 16 (April 20, 1878): 127.
Alfred de Lostalot, “La Collection Laurent Richard,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts: Courrier Européen de l’Art et de la Curiosité 17, no. 251 (May 1, 1878): 471, as Pierrot malade.
advertisement, La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, no. 18 (May 4, 1878): 143.
advertisement, La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, no. 19 (May 11, 1878): 150
advertisement, La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, no. 20 (May 18, 1878): 160.
Possibly Paul Lefort, “La collection de M. Laurent -Richard,” L’Evénement (May 21, 1878).
“Nouvelles Diverses,” Journal des débats politiques et littéraires (May 26, 1878): unpaginated, as Pierrot malade.
“Vente de la collection Laurent Richard,” La Liberté (May 26, 1878): unpaginated, as Pierrot Malade.
Un passant, “Les on-dit,” Le Rappel, no. 2999 (May 27, 1878): 2, as Pierrot malade.
“Informations et faits,” Journal officiel de la République française, no. 145 (May 27, 1878): 5848, as Pierrot malade.
“Mouvement des Arts,” La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, no. 22 (June 1, 1878): 171, as Pierrot malade.
Lucy H. Hooper, “The Gallery of M. Laurent-Richard,” Art Journal 4 (1878): 188, as The Sick Pierrot.
J[oseph] Brunard, Le Recueil de l’art et de la Curiosité (Paris: Delamotte Fils et Cie, Libraires-Éditeurs, 1878), 194, as Pierrot malade.
Catalogue de tableaux modernes et de tableaux anciens composant la collection Laurent - Richard (Paris: Hôtel Drouot, May 23, 1878), xviii, 10, (repro.), as Pierrot malade.
J[oseph] Brunard, Le guide des commissaires-priseurs et autres officiers vendeurs de meubles (Paris: Loones, Librarie, Successeur de J. Renouard, 1879), 179, as Pierrot malade.
Victor Champier, L’Année Artistique (Paris: A. Quantin, 1879), 336, as Pierrot malade.
Marcello, “L’Exposition de Thomas Couture,” Le Télégraphe (September 5, 1880), as Pierrot malade.
Lucy H. Hooper, “The Couture Exhibition,” Art Journal 6 (1880): 347.
Duranty, “Thomas Couture,” La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, no. 29 (September 4, 1880): 234, as Pierrot malade.
Paul de Charry, “Beaux-Arts: Thomas Couture,” Le Pays, no. 264 (September 20, 1880): unpaginated, as Pierrot malade.
“Dernières Acquisitions: Les Beaux-Arts Illustrés,” Feuilleton du Journal Général de l’Imprimerie et de la Librairie, no. 40 (October 2, 1880): 1740, as Pierrot Malade.
Earl Shinn, The Art Treasures of America being the Choicest Works of Art in the Public and Private Collections of North America (Paris: G. Barrie, 1881), II:114.
Hippolyte Mireur, Dictionnaire des Ventes d’Art en France et à l’Étranger pendant les XVIIIe et XIXe Siècles (Paris: Maisons d’Éditions d’Œuvres Artistiques, 1902), 1: 208, as Pierrot malade.
Armand Dayot, Exposition des œuvres de Thomas Couture, exh. cat. (Paris: Galerie Levesque, 1913), 9, as Pierrot Malade.
Paintings, furnishings and architectural fittings of the Astor residence, 840 Fifth Avenue, New York: paintings of the XIX century French school, furniture, tapestries and objects of art, carved wood wall paneling, painted insets and ceilings, bronzes and ironwork (New York: American Art Association, April 20, 1926), 111, as Pierrot Malade.
M[inna] K. P[owell], “A New Nelson Group: Paintings and Drawings Are Added to Gallery,” Kansas City Star 52, no. 206 (April 10, 1932): 11A.
M[inna] K. P[owell], “Art: Mr. Parsons Will Be Heard Thursday Night on ‘The Italian Renaissance;’ What Is to Be Seen in the Group of Recently Acquired Paintings for the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art Was Told the Hospitality Committee Yesterday by Him,” Kansas City Times 95, no. 88 (April 12, 1932): 10.
Georges Bertauts -Couture, Thomas Couture (1815– 1879): Sa vie, son œuvre, son caractère,ses idées, sa méthode (Paris: Le Garrec, 1932), 40, 84, 100, (repro.), as Pierrot malade.
Eugené Bouvy, “Au Lendemain de L’exposition Manet: Thomas Couture,”L’Amateur d’estampes, no. 5 (October 1932): 159, as Pierrot malade.
The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Handbook of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1933), 49, (repro.), as The Illness of Pierrot.
Thomas Carr Howe, “Kansas City Has Fine Art Museum: Nelson Gallery Ranks with the Best,” [unknown newspaper] (ca. December 1933), clipping, scrapbook, NAMA Archives, vol. 5, p. 6.
“Nelson Gallery of Art Special Number,” Art Digest 8, no. 5 (December 1, 1933): 21, as The Illness of Pierrot.
“The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City Special Number,” Art News 32, no. 10 (December 9, 1933): 30.
A. J. Philpott, “Kansas City Now in Art Center Class: Nelson Gallery, Just Opened, Contains Remarkable Collection of Paintings, Both Foreign and American,” Boston Sunday Globe 125, no. 14 (January 14, 1934): 16.
“Marionette Shows Thursday,” Kansas City Star 54, no. 345 (August 28, 1934): 2, as The Illness of Pierrot.
M.K.P., “Gallery’s First Anniversary To Be Celebrated Next Week,”Kansas City Star 55, no. 80 (December 6, 1934): 10, as The Illness of Pierrot.
“Little Hands in Art,” Kansas City Star 54, no. 331 (August 14, 1934): 9, as The Illness of Pierrot.
“Portrait by Manet Chosen as Week’s Nelson Gallery Masterpiece,”Kansas City Journal-Post 82, no. 126 (January 26, 1936): 2-B, as Illness of Pierrot.
“One of the most important purchases,” Musical Bulletin (March 1936): 78, as The Death of Pierrot.
The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 2nd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1941), 168, as The Illness of Pierrot.
Aimée Crane, ed., A Gallery of Great Paintings (New York: Crown, 1944), 32, (repro.), as The Illness of Pierrot.
Georges Bertauts-Couture, “Thomas Couture: sa technique et son influence sur la peinture françáise de la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle,” Etudes d’art, Musée National des Beaux-Arts d’Alger, nos. 11–12 (1955–1956): 204, Pierrot malade.
Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts , 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 260, as Illness of Pierrot.
Albert Boime, “À La Mode and Haute Couture,” Burlington Magazine 112, no. 810 (September 1970): 646–47, (repro.), as The Illness of Pierrot.
Jane van Nimmen, Thomas Couture: Paintings and Drawings in American Collections (College Park, MD: University of Maryland, 1970), 57, (repro.), as The Illness of Pierrot.
Albert Boime, “Newman, Ryder, Couture and Hero-Worship in Art History,”American Art Journal 3, no. 2 (Autumn 1971): 20n44, as The Illness of Pierrot.
Reality, Fantasy and Flesh: Traditions in Nineteenth Century Art , exh. cat. (Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Art Gallery, 1973), 13, 17, (repro.), as The Illness of Pierrot.
Sarah Lansdell, “Review of Exhibition Reality, Fantasy, and Flesh,” Courier-Journal and Times 237, no. 127 (November 4, 1973): 19, (repro.), as The Illness of Pierrot.
Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri , vol. 1, Art of the Occident, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 257, as The Illness of Pierrot.
Paris—New York: A Continuing Romance; Wildenstein Centenary Exhibition, for the Benefit of the New York Public Library , exh. cat. (New York: Wildenstein, 1977), 56, (repro.), as The Illness of Pierrot.
Robert Henning et al., Enrollment of the Volunteers: Thomas Couture and the Painting of History , exh. cat. (Springfield, MA: Museum of Fine Arts, 1980), 78, as Pierrot Sick.
Ross E. Taggart and Laurence Sickman, Genre, exh. cat. (Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1983), 15, 26, (repro.), as The Illness of Pierrot.
Helen O. Borowitz, “Painted Smiles: Sad Clowns in French Art and Literature,” Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71, no. 1 (January 1984): 23, 31.
Tableaux anciens, tableaux et dessins du XIXe siècle (Monte Carlo, Monaco: Sotheby’s, June 20, 1987), unpaginated.
Dessins anciens et du XIXe siècle (Monte Carlo, Monaco: Sotheby’s, December 2, 1988), 59.
Possibly Marie-Jeanne Grosset-Clergeau, Catalogue raisonné des peintures de Thomas Couture demeurées dans les collections publiques en France (Lille: Atelier national de reproduction des thèses, 1988).
L’Enrôlement des volontaires de 1792, Thomas Couture (1815 –1879): Les artistes au service de la patrie en danger (Beauvais: Musee departemental de l’'Oise, 1989), 94, as Pierrot malade.
Peintures, Aquarelles, Dessins: 1755 –1891, exh. cat. (Paris: Jean François and Phillippe Heim, 1990), 54, as Pierrot malade.
“This and That,” Kansas City Star 111, no. 363 (September 15, 1991): K8, as The Illness of Pierrot.
French Drawings, 1770 –1880, exh. cat. (New York: W. M. Brady, 1992), unpaginated, as La Maladie de Pierrot.
Thomas Couture: Dessins (1859 –1869) , exh. cat. (Senlis: Musée d'art, 1993), 15, as Pierrot malade.
Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson- Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 204, (repro.), as The Illness of Pierrot.
Christine Debrie et al., Dessins français du XIXe siècle dans les musées de Picardie, exh. cat. (Abbeville: Musée Boucher de Perthes, 1994), 74–75, 80-81, as Pierrot malade.
Éric Deschodt and Jacques Boulay, D’un musée l’autre en Picardie (Paris: Éditions du Regard, 1996), 169.
Jules Defossé, Thomas Couture: Souper à la Maison d’Or, exh. cat. (Senlis: Musée de l'Hôtel de Vermandois 1998), 45.
Louise d’Argencourt, European Paintings of the 19th Century (Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999), 1:173, 176 n3, as Sick Pierrot.
Amal Asfour,Champfleury: Meaning in the Popular Arts in Nineteenth- Century France (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2001), 148, 158n109, 219, (repro.), as The Illness of Pierrot.
Le XIXe siècle , exh. cat. (Paris: Talabardon et Gautier, 2001), unpaginated, as Pierrot malade.
Bénédicte Pradié-Ottinger,“Pour une redécouverte de l’oeuvre de Thomas Couture portraitiste: à propos de la récente acquisition du portrait de ‘La baronne d’Astier de la Vigerie’ par le Musée d’Art et d’Archéologie de Senlis,” Revue Du Louvre (April 2, 2001): 66.
Alan E. H. Emery and Marcia L. H. Emery, Medicine and Art (London: Royal Society of Medicine Press, 2003), 54–55, (repro.), as The Illness of Pierrot.
Bénédicte Ottinger, “Thomas Couture et l’Amérique,”48/14: La Revue du Musée d’Orsay, no. 26 (Spring 2008): 32, 38n2, 39n30, as Pierrot malade.
Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 115, (repro.), as The Illness of Pierrot.
Bénédicte Ottinger, Les œuvres d'un peintre senlisien aux États-Unis: Thomas Couture, 1815–1879 (Senlis: Société d’histoire et d’archéologie de Senlis, 2008), 129, 134, 140, as Pierrot malade.
Bénédicte Ottinger and Caroline Joubert, Damoclè s: Thomas Couture (Caen: Musée des beaux-arts de Caen, 2009), 9, as Pierrot malade.
Olivia Voisin and Thierry Cazaux, Thomas Couture: Romantique malgré lui, exh. cat. (Paris: Gourcuff-Gradenigo, 2015), 13, 60, 123, 129, as La Maladie de Pierrot.
Catherine Futter et al.,Bloch Galleries: Highlights from the Collection of the Nelson- Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2016), 38, (repro.), as The Illness of Pierrot.
Jennifer Forrest, Decadent Aesthetics and the Acrobat in FrenchFin de Siècle (New York: Routledge, 2020), 44, 64n2, 66n12, Pierrot Malade.
Lisa Hecht, Aubrey Beardsleys Rezeption des 18. Jahrhunderts als Ausdruck von Selbstinszenierung und (Selbst) -Parodie (Köln: Böhlau Verlag, 2020), 179–81, 334, as Pierrot malade.
Brigid M. Boyle, “Thomas Couture, The Illness of Pierrot, 1867–1868,” catalogue entry in French Paintings, 1600–1945: The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2023), https://doi.org/10.37764/78973.5.508.5407.
