The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

The Guilty and Repentant Daughter

The Guilty and Repentant Daughter

early 1770s
(French, 1725–1805)
France, 18th century
brush and black and gray wash over black chalk
Sheet: 49.8 x 64.3 cm (19 5/8 x 25 5/16 in.); Secondary Support: 49.8 x 64.3 cm (19 5/8 x 25 5/16 in.); Tertiary Support: 61.3 x 78.8 cm (24 1/8 x 31 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1989.46
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The man who served as the model for the father in Greuze's drawing also appears as a butcher in another sheet by the artist.

Description

This drawing belongs to a group of highly finished drawings created by Jean-Baptiste Greuze during the 1770s, many of which focused on family crises and were characterized by groups of figures set in shallow interior spaces. Although the precise subject of the work is unknown, it shows a father and his son kneeling before him. The title, which comes from an inscription on the drawing's original frame, refers to the girl entering the room at right, who is presumably disgraced due to a pregnancy out of wedlock. She is preceded by a woman who angrily confronts the family, gesturing to the girl's swollen stomach, perhaps accusing either the old or young man of impregnating the girl.
  • ?-1907
    Comte Magne [?-1902], Marseilles
    1902
    (Drouot, Paris, Comte Magne sale, January 25, 1902, no. 21)
    1984
    (Christie's, London, July 4, 1984, no. 121)
    probably 1984-1989
    (Kate de Rothschild - Didier Aaron et Cie., London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1989-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Inscription on frame verso ("de M. Cte. Magne, Fille copuable et repentante, dessiné par J.B. Greuze").
    2 Catalogue de dessins, aquarelles, pastels en majeure partie de l'école française du XVIIIe siècle...provenant de la collection de M.C. Magne, de Marseille (Paris: Hotel Drouot, 1902), no. 21 (as "La Fille coupable et repentie, important dessin à l'encre de Chine").
    3 Important Old Master Drawings (London: Christie, Manson, & Woods Ltd, 1984), no. 121 (repr.; as "Property of a Lady").
    4 Master Drawings 1550-1850 (New York and London: Kate de Rothschild-Didier Aaron, 1988), no. 41 (repr.).
  • Bull, Duncan. "Exhibition Reviews: London, Old Master Drawings." Burlington Magazine 131, no. 1030 (January 1989): 49. Reproduced: p. 48
    Maîtres français 1550-1800: dessins de la donation Mathias Polakovits à l'École des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Exh. Cat. Paris: École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, 1989. Mentioned and reproduced: 240
    "Recent acquisitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art 1: Departments of Western Art." Burlington Magazine 133, no. 1054 (January 1991): 65. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 65
    DeGrazia, Diane and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. Mentioned: p. 12, p. 116-17, p. 289; Reproduced: p. 117
    Munhall, Edgar, and Irina Novosselskaya. Greuze the Draftsman. Exh. Cat. New York: Frick Collection, in association with Merrell, 2002. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 206-207, no. 72
    Conisbee, Philip. French Genre Painting in the Eighteenth Century. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2007. Reproduced: p. 180, fig. 3
  • Greuze, The Draftsman. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (September 10-December 1, 2002).
    Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
    French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995).
    Directions in Drawing: 1750-1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991).
    The Year in Review for 1989. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 6-April 15, 1990).
    Master Drawings 1550-1850. Didier Aaron, Inc., New York and London (1988).
  • {{cite web|title=The Guilty and Repentant Daughter|url=false|author=Jean-Baptiste Greuze|year=early 1770s|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1989.46