Italianate Landscape

Artist Jean-Michel Moreau le Jeune (French, 1741 - 1814)

Date18th century

MediumRed chalk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 10 3/8 × 14 3/16 inches (26.34 × 36.04 cm)
Framed: 21 1/2 × 26 × 1 inches (54.61 × 66.04 × 2.54 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Milton McGreevy through the Westport Fund

Object number50-2

On View

Not on view

Collections

European Art

Terms

Exhibition History

Loan Exhibition of Old Master Drawings in Midwestern Museums, Detroit Institute of Arts, June 1-September 15, 1950, no. 40, as Italian Landscape.

Drawings Collection of Milton McGreevy, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 7-April 4, 1965, no. 65, as Landscape with Classical Ruins.

Master Drawings from The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Washington University Gallery of Art, St. Louis, September 22-December 3, 1989, unnumbered, as Italianate Landscape.

Reality and Fantasy: Land, Town, and Sea, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 15-October 26, 2008; December 18, 2013-June 22, 2014, no cat.

Gallery Label

This drawing by a late 18th-century French artist follows the conventions of the Italian classical landscape style as developed in the 17th and 18th centuries. This is indicated by the noble trees balancing the composition on either side, and the antique monuments and statuary. The figures seem very active, but probably represent no specific classical subject and have been included merely to give interest to the foreground. The rugged surface of the rock seen beyond the trees to the left makes an effective contrast with the smoothness of the adjacent classical building, which is possibly a triumphal arch.

Provenance

Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse, Landgrave of Hesse (1868-1940), and Princess Margaret of Prussia, Landgravine of Hesse (1872-1954), Schloss Kronberg im Taunus, Germany [1];

Kurt M. Stern, by February 11, 1949;

Purchased from Stern by Durlacher Brothers, New York, stock no. 475D, as Landscape, February 11-January 9, 1950 [2];

Purchased from Durlacher, through the generosity of Milton (1903-1980) and Barbara (née James, 1905-1996) McGreevy, Shawnee Mission, KS, by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1950.

NOTES:

[1] See Durlacher stock card, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Durlacher Brothers records, Box 21, Drawings stock book.

[2] Ibid.

Published References

Loan Exhibition of Old Master Drawings in Midwestern Museums, exh. cat. (Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1950), unpaginated.

“Drawings Collection of Milton McGreevy,” Bulletin (The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum) 4, no. 6 (1965): 36, (repro.).

Master Drawings from The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, exh. cat. (St. Louis: Washington University Gallery of Art, 1989), 8, 47, (repro.).

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