The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 25, 2023

Seated Woman with a Cat

c. 1776

Jean-Michel the Younger Moreau

(French, 1741–1814)

France, 18th century

Brush and gray and black wash

Support: Brown-yellow laid paper, laid down on beige laid paper, mounted to a tertiary support of beige board faced with blue paper

Sheet: 18.6 x 15.8 cm (7 5/16 x 6 1/4 in.); Tertiary Support: 27.5 x 23.5 cm (10 13/16 x 9 1/4 in.)

Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.396

Location

not on view

Description

Moreau le jeune was an important draftsman, printmaker, and book illustrator who was championed by the celebrated French writers of the 19th century Edmond (1822-1896) and Jules (1830-1870) de Goncourt, who also owned this drawing (the collector's stamp bearing their name can be seen in the lower left corner of the sheet). The drawing may represent a relative of the 18th-century French poet Louis Gresset (1709-1777). A portrait drawing by Moreau le jeune of Gresset-now at the Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame-has many similarities to this one.

Citations
Burty, Philippe. Catalogue de tableaux et dessins de l'école française, principalement du XVIIIe siècle, tirés de collections d'amateurs, et exposés au profit de la caisse de secours des artistes, peintres, sculpteurs, architectes et dessinateurs. Paris: [Impr. de J. Claye], 1860. Mentioned: cat. no. 283, p. 58
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. 16, p. 43-44
École Nationale Supérieure Des Beaux-arts (France), Charles Ephrussi, and Gustave Dreyfus. Catalogue Descriptif Des Dessins De Maîtres Anciens Exposés À L'école Des Beaux-Arts Mai-Juin 1879. 2e Éd ed. Paris: Typ. G. Chamerot, 1879. Mentioned: cat. no. 62, p. 150
Exhibition history

Philippe Burty, Tableaux et dessins de l'école française, principalement du XVIIIe siècle, tirés de collections d'amateurs, Galerie Francis Petit, Paris (1860), 58, no. 283;

Dessins de maîtres anciens, École des Beaux-Arts, Paris (1879), no. 621 (exh. cat.: Catalogue descriptif des dessins de Maîtres Anciens exposés à l'École des Beaux-Arts [Paris: Georges Chamerot, 1879], 150, no. 62).

French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2008.396