The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 16, 2024

Liberty

Liberty

c. 1865–75
(French, 1832–1883)
France, 19th century
Brush and brown wash and gray and white gouache with graphite
Sheet: 46.5 x 32.9 cm (18 5/16 x 12 15/16 in.)
Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.383
Location: not on view

Description

Gustave Doré is best known for his skill as a draftsman (often seen in book illustrations), as well as for his sense of the fantastic and visionary. In the present drawing, his fluid washes and flowing lines of white add to the dramatic scene of a liberating angel breaking chains. The drawing relates to Doré's Defense of Paris (Memories of 1870), which treated an event from the recent Franco-Prussian War with a figure representing Liberty. A major difference between the painting and the drawing is that Doré represented soldiers in contemporary uniforms in the painting, but in the drawing of Liberty, he conceived a broader theme in which crowns and medieval costumes evoke an earlier time.
  • by 1875-1883
    Estate of Gustave Doré [1832-1883, L. 681a]
    1885
    (Hotel Drouot, Doré studio sale, Paris, April 13, 1885, no. 96)
    1989
    (Hotel Drouot, Paris, June 22, 1989, no. 15)
    1989-1990
    (Galerie Jacques Fischer-Chantal Kiener, Paris, sold to Muriel Butkin, Shaker Heights, OH)
    1990-2008
    Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    2008
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Stamped at lower right, in red ink.
    2 As "La Liberté. Dessin au pinceau avec rehauts de blanc. Haut., 45 cent.; larg., 32 cent."
    3 As "La Liberté brisant ses chaînes"
  • Hotel Drouot, Paris. Catalogue Des Tableaux...son atelier par feu Gustave Doré. April 13, 1885. Lot 96. Mentioned: p. 20
    De Grazia, Diane. "Drawings in Cleveland: The Evolution of a Collection." In Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1-15. Diane De Grazia and Carter E. Foster, eds. Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in Association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 10, pp. 10-11
    De Grazia, Diane. "The Evolution of a Collection: Drawings in Cleveland." Master Drawings 38, no. 3 (2000): 249-60. Mentioned: p. 258
    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 and Reproduced: p. 11
    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 and Reproduced: cat. no. 47, pp. 104-105
    Zafran, Eric, ed. Fantasy and Faith: The Art of Gustave Doré. New York: Dahesh Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned: p. 40, p. 180; Reproduced: fig. 35, p. 40
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Stamped at lower right, in red ink.
    2 As "La Liberté. Dessin au pinceau avec rehauts de blanc. Haut., 45 cent.; larg., 32 cent."
    3 As "La Liberté brisant ses chaînes"
  • 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).
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Stamped at lower right, in red ink.
    2 As "La Liberté. Dessin au pinceau avec rehauts de blanc. Haut., 45 cent.; larg., 32 cent."
    3 As "La Liberté brisant ses chaînes"
  • {{cite web|title=Liberty|url=false|author=Gustave Doré|year=c. 1865–75|access-date=16 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Stamped at lower right, in red ink.
    2 As "La Liberté. Dessin au pinceau avec rehauts de blanc. Haut., 45 cent.; larg., 32 cent."
    3 As "La Liberté brisant ses chaînes"

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2008.383