The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Study for "Silence"
c. 1780–89
attributed to Louis-Philippe Mouchy
(French, 1734–1801)
Overall: 26.5 x 15.3 x 16.4 cm (10 7/16 x 6 x 6 7/16 in.)
Location: not on view
Description
When originally acquired this work was understood as a sketch for the "Citizen," a figure for a monument to King Louis XV in the French city of Rheims by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. In that work the figure of the "Citizen" appears at the base, opposite an allegory of law, underneath a sculpture of Louis XV. The attribution was changed, however, after research made evident that the museum's sculpture precisely matches the iconography for "Silence." Moreover, the figure differs considerably from Pigalle's final figure of the "Citizen," throwing the attribution to Pigalle in question as well. The work is now believed to be by Pigalle's close follower, Mouchy, because of its similarity to a sculpture completed in 1789 for Madame Pompadour called Silence, which currently resides in the Luxembourg Palace in Paris.- Heim Gallery (Paris, France), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1979.
- Cleveland Museum of Art, “Thomas L. Fawick Memorial Collection is on View in Year in Review Exhibition,” February 7, 1980, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.orgLee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1979." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 3 (1980): 58-99. Reproduced: cat. no. 37 p. 69; Mentioned: p. 58 www.jstor.org
- CMA 1980: "Year in Review 1979," CMA Bulletin, LXVII (March 1980), cat. no. 37, p. 96, repr. p. 69.Year in Review: 1979. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 13-March 9, 1980).
- {{cite web|title=Study for "Silence" |url=false|author=Louis-Philippe Mouchy|year=c. 1780–89|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1979.7