The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 4, 2022

Portrait of a Woman as Diana

1752

Jean-Marc Nattier

(French, 1685-1766)

France, 18th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 127.5 x 107.5 x 10 cm (50 3/16 x 42 5/16 x 3 15/16 in.); Unframed: 100.4 x 79.5 cm (39 1/2 x 31 5/16 in.)

Bequest of John L. Severance 1942.643

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The sitter was once thought to be King Louis XV’s daughter Henriette or his mistress Madame de Pompadour. Today, her identity is unknown.

Description

For many years, this sitter was identified as Madame de Pompadour, but she bears little resemblance to this pivotal figure in French art and politics of the mid 1700s. Nattier specialized in portraits of women in mythological guises—in this case, the bow, quiver, and leopard skin, all attributes of Diana, goddess of the hunt.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed lower left: Nattier P.x. / 1752

Provenance
Before 1860
Comte de Pimodan (probably Georges Pimodan [1822-1860]), Paris
Possibly until 19130
Madame Dhainaut
By 1930
(Wildenstein & Co., New York, NY, sold to John L. Severance)
1930-1936
John L. Severance [1863-1936], Cleveland, OH, upon his death, held in trust by the estate
1936-1942
Estate of John L. Severance, bequeathed to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1942-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio Bequest of John L. Severance
Citations
Joseph Baillio, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Feb. 18. 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
Salmon, Xavier. Jean Marc Nattier: 1685-1766. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1999.
Renard, Philippe, and Jean-Marc Nattier. Jean-Marc Nattier (1685-1766): un artiste parisien à la cour de Louis XV. Saint-Rémy-en-l'Eau: Monelle Hayot, 1999.

Salmon, Xavier. Jean Marc Nattier: 1685-1766. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1999.




Joseph Baillio, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Feb. 18. 2014, in CMA curatorial file.



Salmon, Xavier. Jean Marc Nattier: 1685-1766. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1999.



Joseph Baillio, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Feb. 18, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.



Salmon, Xavier. Jean Marc Nattier: 1685-1766. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1999.
Catalogue of the John L. Severance Collection: Bequest of John L. Severance, 1936. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1942. Reproduced: p. [20], Plate VIII, cat. no. 11; Mention: p. 22, cat. no. 11 archive.org
Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1945. Reproduced: p. 30 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 136 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 136 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 179 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Mentioned: p. 102; Reproduced: p. 103
Saisselin, Rémy G. The Enlightenment against the Baroque: Economics and Aesthetics in the Eighteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. Reproduced: Book Jacket
Exhibition history

C.M.A, 1934: "Art of the XVII and XVIIIth centuries".

C.M.A., 1936: "20th Anniversary Exhibition," cat. no. 62.

C.M.A, 1942: "Exhibition of the John L Severance Collection", cat. no. 11, pl. VIII.

New York, Wildenstein &Co., Nov. 7-Dec. 15, 1951: "Jubillee Exhibition", (Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Firm's Establishment in N.Y.City.).

CMA, Oct. 1-Nov 10, 1963: "Style, Truth, and the Portrait", cat. no. 54, repr..

Royal Academy of Arts, London, January 5 to March 3, 1968, "France in the 18th Century." cat. no. 498.

Versailles, France: Musée National du Château de Versailles et de Trianon (10/25/99 - 1/30/00) "Jean Marc Nattier (1685-1766)" exh. cat. no. 69, pp 244-246.

Art of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9-December 2, 1934).

Exhibition of the John L. Severance Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 12, 1942-March 14, 1943).

Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 2-November 19, 1963).

France in the 18th Century. Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (January 5-March 3, 1968).

Jean Marc Nattier (1685-1766). Musée National du Château de Versailles et de Trianon, France (October 25, 1999-January 30, 2000).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1942.643