The Cleveland Museum of Art

• Provenance
  1864

  (Possibly artist's estate sale, Feb. 17-29, 1864, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, no. 188)

  Probably until 1926

  Marie-Louise Guinot, to her husband, Georges Aubry

  By 1926 - c. 1930

  Georges Aubry, Paris

  1967

  (Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, March 6-7, 1967, no. 7, sold to Claude Aubry)

  1967-

  (Claude Aubry, Paris, sold to Paul and Odette Wurzburger)

  Until 1970

  Paul [1904-1976] and Odette [1909-2006] Wurzburger, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art

  1970-

  The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

  Provenance Footnotes

  1 In Delacroix’s posthumous sale of 1864, lot 188 consisted of three studies for which no further details are given beyond the vague title, “Trois études de costumes d’hommes de l’Orient.”  Lee Johnson, author of the Delacroix catalogue raisonné, however, questions whether the Cleveland sketch is indeed among the three studies in lot 188, and even if it can be proven with certainty that it was one of the three studies, Johnson is doubtful that the Cleveland sketch is an autograph work.  He maintains that in spite of the wax monogram “ED” on the stretcher and, on the front, a printed label that reads “188” – he notes could both be fake – the sketch’s attribution must be called into question unless scientific tests establish the authenticity of its materials and/or its early provenance can be securely documented.  It should be noted, however, that the “ED” monogram on the Cleveland sketch does much more strongly resemble the example of an authentic seal Johnson presents in his catalogue than the forged examples he illustrates.  Because there is no provenance for the sketch prior to its supposed appearance in the 1864 sale, it is possible that it may have been painted by one of Delacroix’s students or another artist and was then erroneously attributed to Delacroix after his death.  The “ED” seal and sale label may have been added at some point to increase the work’s value and saleability.  The only hint of its pre-1864 provenance is a label on the back of the frame that appears to read “Acheté 1862 165 + Delacroix,” indicating that a transaction, possibly involving Delacroix himself, took place in 1862.  The study’s provenance following the 1864 sale, if it indeed appeared in that auction, is also unclear.  Different copies of the auction catalogue reveal varying handwritten notations accompanying lot 188.  Several copies of the catalogue have an annotation that indicates the prices paid for the three studies: 215, 255, and 155 francs.  One annotation indicates that the studies were purchased by “Pérot, Pérot [and] Busquet” (or possibly Ringuet, as the handwriting is difficult to discern), respectively, while another lists only Prévost.  In his 1885 catalogue of Delacroix’s oeuvre, Alfred Robaut notes that one of the three works was purchased by Muret, but he may have inadvertently confused one of the buyers with that of lot 187, where “Muret” is indeed indicated as one of the buyers, written in directly above Busquet/Ringuet.  Johnson has identified two studies (L45 and L46 in his catalogue raisonné) as two of the three works comprising lot 188, in part because they both later appeared in the collection of “M. Mercier,” and so likely were purchased by the same buyer at the 1864 sale.  Johnson gives Prévost as that buyer, but it is just as likely that the buyer in question was in fact Pérot.  While Robaut reproduces L45 and L46 in his catalogue, the third study, that purchased by Busquet/Ringuet and possibly now at CMA, is not reproduced, making it that more difficult to secure its early provenance.  Another clue to the study’s early provenance may be a stencil on the back of the canvas that refers to Étienne-François Haro’s shop, Au Génie des Arts (spelled out in the stencil).  Haro studied painting under Delacroix before taking over the shop in the early 1850s, where he worked as a dealer, restorer, and collector.  Haro held auctions at the shop, but also acquired works directly from artists and at public auctions.  Because Haro not only bought/sold works by contemporary artists, both as a dealer and for himself, but also supplied materials, it is difficult to determine for which type of transaction the Haro stencil was applied to the canvas of the Delacroix, and whether or not Haro figures in the provenance.

  2 Johnson wrote in a letter of July 12, 1969 to CMA curator Ann Tzeutschler Lurie that he had “been able to turn up in conversation in Paris [the] hearsay evidence that [the] picture was part of a provincial collection that had remained intact since the 19th century” until it came up for auction in 1967.  It is possible that Guinot was the owner of this “provincial” collection, and that the painting had been in her family since the nineteenth century. 

  3 According to documents found in Aubry’s country house, he owned the painting by 1926, but by around 1930, it was no longer in his possession.

  4 Dealer Claude Aubry, son of Georges Aubry, purchased the Delacroix sketch at this auction at the request of his father, who noticed that it was on the market.  
• Citations
  Bortolatto, Luigina Rossi. Tout l'œuvre peint de Delacroix. Paris: Flammarion, 1975.

  Johnson, Lee. The Paintings of Eugene Delacroix A Critical Catalogue. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.

  d'Argencourt, Louise, Roger Diederen, and Alisa Luxenberg. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999.

  Johnson, Lee. The Paintings of Eugene Delacroix A Critical Catalogue. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.

  Claude Aubry, letter to Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, May 29, 1972, in CMA curatorial file.

  Claude Aubry, letter to Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, May 29, 1972, in CMA curatorial file.

  Hôtel Drouot. Tableaux modernes, tableaux anciens….March 6-7, 1967.

  Claude Aubry, letter to Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, May 29, 1972, in CMA curatorial file.

  Claude Aubry, letter to Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, Dec. 8, 1969, in CMA curatorial file.

  Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, letter to Lee Johnson, April 13, 1970, in CMA curatorial file.

  Claude Aubry, letter to Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, Dec. 8, 1969, in CMA curatorial file.

  Hôtel Drouot. Catalogue de la vente qui aura lieu par suite du déces de Eugène Delacroix. Feb. 17-29, 1864

  Johnson, Lee. The Paintings of Eugene Delacroix A Critical Catalogue. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.

  d'Argencourt, Louise, Roger Diederen, and Alisa Luxenberg. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999.

  Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 231-233, Vol. I, no. 83
• Exhibition History
  Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971).
• Cite this Page
  {{cite web|title=Figure in Turkish Costume|url=false|author=Eugène Delacroix|year=c. 1856–1863|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}