The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

The Meeting of Orestes and Hermione

The Meeting of Orestes and Hermione

c. 1800
(French, 1767–1824)
France, early 19th Century
pen and brown and black ink, point of brush and brown and gray wash, with black chalk and graphite, heightened with white gouache, on cream wove paper
Sheet: 28.5 x 21.8 cm (11 1/4 x 8 9/16 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1989.101
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The leg of the table behind Hermione has the form of a siren, a dangerous mythological creature that destroys anyone who hears its song.

Description

When the French painter Jacques-Louis David was approached to work on a new edition of Jean Racine’s plays, he passed the task to his pupil Girodet, who excelled at illustrating literature. This highly refined drawing depicts a scene from Racine’s Andromaque, a complicated story of unrequited love and political treachery. Cléone introduces the love-blind Orestes to Hermione, who exploits his affection to make him do her bidding. Girodet skillfully contrasts Orestes’s eagerness and Hermione’s calculating character. With folded arms, she turns away, as if a statue between the columns of a cool marble interior. Yet Hermione’s sly, backward glance alerts the viewer of her cunning manipulation, which eventually drives Orestes mad.
  • ?-?
    Pierre Didot l’Ainé [1760–1853], Paris, given with other drawings in vellum edition to his brother, Firmin Didot
    ?-1810
    Firmin Didot [1764–1836], Paris
    1810
    (his sale, De Bure, Paris, 1810, no. 679 [withdrawn from sale])
    1810-by 1947
    Didot family collection, Paris
    ?-1989
    Frederick J. Cummings [1933–1990], New York
    1989
    (W. M. Brady & Co. Inc., New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1989-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 A mention in the 1824 book catalogue by Van Praet suggests that the drawing was still in Firmin Didot's possession that year.
    2 Master Drawings 1760-1880. New York: W. M. Brady & Co. Inc., 1990, no. 17 (repr.).
  • Explication des ouvrages de peinture et dessins, sculpture, architecture et gravure, des artistes vivans [sic]. Paris: Imprimerie des sciences et arts, 1800. Mentioned: p. 30, no. 170.2
    Annales du musée et de l’école moderne des beaux-arts, première collection, tome complémentaire. Paris: C. P. Landon, 1809. Mentioned: 71, 162; Reproduced: pl. 45
    Catalogue des livres rares, précieux, et très-bien conditionnés, du cabinet de M. Firmin Didot. Paris: De Bure, 1810. Mentioned: p. 96
    Catalogue de livres imprimés sur vélin. Paris: De Bure, 1824. Mentioned: vol. 2, p. 168
    Coupin, P. A. Œuvres posthumes de Girodet-Trioson. Paris: Jules Renouard, 1829. Mentioned: vol. 1: p. xxxix, lxxviij; vol. 2: p. 343
    Collection des livrets des anciennes expositions depuis 1673 jusqu’en 1800: Exposition de 1800. Paris: Liepmannssohn, 1872. Mentioned: p. 35, no. 170
    L’Illustration en France et en Belgique de 1800 à 1914: Cent livres de la réserve précieuse du musée royal de Mariemont. Exh. cat. Mariemont: Musée royal de Mariemont, 1979. Mentioned: p. 11
    Osborne, Carol Margot. Pierre Didot the Elder and French Book Illustration, 1789–1822. New York: Garland, 1985. Mentioned: pp. 37, 120-121, 226
    Master Drawings, 1760–1880. Exh. cat. New York: W. M. Brady & Co., 1990. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 17
    Campbell, Richard J., and Victor Carlson. Visions of Antiquity: Neoclassical Figure Drawings. Exh. cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 37, 216-17, no. 55
    DeGrazia, Diane and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. Mentioned: pp. 9, 124, 290, no. 48; Reproduced: p. 125
    Bellenger, Sylvain, Girodet 1767–1824. Exh. cat. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2005. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 175n35, 440–41 (ill.), no. 110
    Prat, Louis-Antoine. Le Dessin français au XIXe siècle. Paris: Louvre éditions, 2011. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 77
  • Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-April 30, 2023).
    Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).
    Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
    Girodet: Romantic Rebel. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France (September 19, 2005-January 2, 2006); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (May 22-August 27, 2006).
    Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
    French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995).
    Visions of Antiquity: Neoclassical Figure Drawing. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (July 22-September 19, 1993); Philadelphia Museum of Art (October 30, 1993-January 2, 1994); Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (February 6-April 3, 1994).
    Directions in Drawing: 1750-1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991).
    The Year in Review for 1989. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 6-April 15, 1990).
    Master Drawings, 1760–1880. W. M. Brady & Co., New York (May 2–22, 1990).
    Salon de 1800. Musée du Louvre, Paris (1800).
  • {{cite web|title=The Meeting of Orestes and Hermione|url=false|author=Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson|year=c. 1800|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1989.101