The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

The Oak Tree and the Reed

The Oak Tree and the Reed

c. 1873
Location: not on view

Description

The Oak Tree and the Reed illustrates the fable of the same name by the 17th-century French writer Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695). Having disdainfully pitied the reed for bending before the wind, the oak is shown torn from the earth by a terrific north wind. Focusing upon the uprooted oak, Daubigny created a violently expressive treatment of the subject. The bold dappling of lights and darks below is set off by the intense blue of the clouds encroaching upon the land from the left. The diagonal streaks of thin-ly applied gray wash above suggest driving rain.
  • Probably c. 1873-1904
    Hector Giacomelli [1822-1904, L. 1311], Versailles
    1905
    (Hotel Drouot, H. Giacomelli collection sale, Paris, April 13-15, 1905, no. 71, sold to Giacomelli)
    1905-?
    Giacomelli
    ?-1976
    François Gosselin, Paris, sold to Shepherd Gallery, New York
    1976
    (Shepherd Gallery, New York, sold to Muriel Butkin, Shaker Heights, OH)
    1976-2008
    Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Cleveland, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Shaker Heights, OH
    2008-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Hotel Drouot, Paris. Tableaux, dessins et aquarelles...la Collection de feu H. Giacomelli, Artiste-Peintre. April 13-15, 1905. Lot 71. Mentioned: p. 17
    Shepherd Gallery. Non-Dissenters; One Hundred and Seventy French Nineteenth Century Drawings, Pastels and Watercolors. November 1, through December 31, 1976. Exh. Cat. New York: Shepherd Gallery, 1976. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 49
    Foster, Carter E., Sylvain Bellenger, and Patrick Shaw Cable. French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Mentioned: cat. no. 49, p. 108-109; Reproduced: p. 109
  • French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002).
    Non-Dissenters: Fifth Exhibition Marking Our Tenth Anniversary. Shepherd Gallery, New York (1976).
  • {{cite web|title=The Oak Tree and the Reed|url=false|author=Charles François Daubigny|year=c. 1873|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2008.357