The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Young Woman with a Mandolin, Portrait of Louison Köhler

c. 1873–1874

François Bonvin

(French, 1817–1887)
France, 19th century
oil on fabric
Framed: 70.5 x 62.2 x 7.6 cm (27 3/4 x 24 1/2 x 3 in.); Unframed: 54.9 x 46 cm (21 5/8 x 18 1/8 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin 1977.124
Location: Not on view

Description

Bonvin was fascinated by the realism of 17th-century Dutch, Flemish, and Spanish still life paintings. He was also aware of the French Realist movement, a highly candid, straightforward style with political overtones. This work embodies both the realism for which Bonvin was famous and the still life paintings of earlier periods. The woman in the painting is Louison Köhler (1850–?), the artist's mistress. After two failed marriages, Bonvin met her in 1870, and she remained with him until his death, appearing in several of his paintings. The image of the reclining woman hanging directly over Louison's head probably suggests the carnal nature of their relationship. Bonvin borrowed this image—a swooning, overjoyed female—from the famous painting Bacchanal by Titian (1485–1576), now in the Prado Museum in Madrid.
  • 1973
    (Sale, Hôtel Drouot, December 19, 1973 (lot 213)
    ?
    Vachet collection, Paris
    After 1973
    Robert Caby [1905-1992], Paris, sold to Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin
    Until 1977
    Noah L. [1918-1980] and Muriel S. Butkin [1915-1908], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1977-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Robert Caby, the French composer and writer who later owned the Bonvin, provided the reference to the Vachet collection, but further details about the identity of Vachet are unknown.  The estate sale of one Raymond Vachet was held at Hôtel Drouot on June 24, 1942, but it consisted only of decorative objects and sculptures.  If Raymond Vachet was indeed the prior owner of the Bonvin, he should, of course, appear in the provenance prior to the 1973 Drouot sale, and in any case, Caby did not specifiy Vachet’s approximate years of ownership.  There is also a Galerie Vachet that appears in the provenance of a painting by Lucien Simon (inv 85 19) in the Musée départemental de l’Oise.  
  • Gabriel Weisberg, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Aug. 5, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
    Weisberg, Gabriel P. Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art. Notre Dame, Indiana: Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, 2012.


    Weisberg, Gabriel P. Bonvin. Paris: Éditions Geoffroy-Dechaume, 1979.
    Weisberg, Gabriel P. Bonvin. Paris: Éditions Geoffroy-Dechaume, 1979
    Weisberg, Gabriel P. Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art. Notre Dame, Indiana: Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, 2012.
    Gabriel Weisberg, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Aug. 5, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
    Hôtel Drouot. Estampes anciennes et modernes. 1973.
    Weisberg, Gabriel P. Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art. Notre Dame, Indiana: Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, 2012.
    Weisberg, Gabriel P. “The Traditional Realism of François Bonvin.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 65, no. 9 (November 1978): 281–298. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 280-281, fig. 1 www.jstor.org
    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. 59-60, Vol. I, no. 22
    Marrinan, Michael, Gustave Caillebotte: Painting the Paris of Naturalism, 1872-1887. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2016. Mentioned & Reproduced: pp. 6-7
    Guichané, Maud, Gabriel P. Weisberg, Léon Bonvin, Jo Briggs, Ger Luijten, and Michèle Quentin. Drawn to the Everyday: Léon Bonvin 1834-1866 : Catalogue Raisonné. Paris : Fondation Custodia, 2022. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 54-55, fig. 30
  • Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art. Snite Museum, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN (organizer) (September 2-December 2, 2012).
    Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN (8/26/2012 - 11/15/2012): "Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art", ex. cat. no. 12, p. 54-55.
    The Realist Tradition: French Painting and Drawing 1830 - 1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 12, 1980-January 18, 1981).
    Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978).
    Paris, Palais des Champs-Élysées. Salon (1874), no. 218, Portrait de Mlle L. de K . . .
    CMA; Brooklyn Museum, Saint Louis Art Museum; Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum. The Realist Tradition: French Painting and Drawing 1830-1900 (1980-82), 246-47, no. 217 (repr.). Text by Gabriel P. Weisberg.
  • {{cite web|title=Young Woman with a Mandolin, Portrait of Louison Köhler|url=false|author=François Bonvin|year=c. 1873–1874|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1977.124