The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Portrait of a Man

1880

Gustave Caillebotte

(French, 1848–1894)
France, 19th century
oil on canvas
Unframed: 81.3 x 65.6 cm (32 x 25 13/16 in.)
Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2009.157
Location: 222 Impressionism & Post-Impressionism

Did You Know?

The subject of this portrait is Albert Courtier, Gustave Caillebotte's notary as well as a lifelong family friend.

Description

This portrait of Albert Courtier was painted in the fourth-floor apartment at 31 boulevard Hausmann in Paris that Gustave Caillebotte shared with his brother Martial. The interior and balcony of this apartment provided the setting for numerous paintings of men in Caillebotte’s social circle surveying the city. Courtier’s pose and unguarded gaze suggest a comfortable rapport with the artist. Their relationship was close: Courtier posed for Caillebotte on several occasions, owned four of the artist’s paintings, and designated his friend as godfather to his eldest daughter.
  • (Galerie Braume and Lorenceau, Paris, France, acquired from the artist's family)
    1972-2009
    Noah Butkin [1918-1980], Shaker Heights, OH by inheritance to his wife, Muriel Butkin [1915-2008]
    -2009
    Estate of Muriel Butkin, Cleveland, OH, bequeathed to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2009-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Berhaut, Marie. Caillebotte: sa vie et son oeuvre : catalogue raisonné des peintures et pastels. Paris, France: La Bibliothèque des Arts, 1978. Reproduced: p, 125
    Berhaut, Marie, and Sophie Pietri. Gustave Caillebotte: catalogue raisonné des peintures et pastels. Paris, France: Wildenstein Institute, 1994. Reproduced: p. 126
    Distel, Anne. Gustave Caillebotte, Urban Impressionist. Paris, France: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1995. Reproduced: p. 206-207
    Distel, Anne. Gustave Caillebotte: The Unknown Impressionist. London, United Kingdom: Royal Academy of Arts, in association with Ludion Press, Ghent, 1996. Reproduced: p. 206-207, Mentioned: p. 244-245
    Johnston, Sona, Susan Bollendorf, and John House. Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International, 1999. Reproduced: p. 46-47
    Groom, Gloria Lynn. L'impressionnisme et la mode. Paris, France: Musee d'Orsay, 2012. Reproduced: p. 212, no. 142
    Groom, Gloria Lynn. Impressionism, Fashion, & Modernity. Chicago, IL: Art Institute of Chicago, 2012. Reproduced: p. 145, 294
    Bougault, Valérie. “L’Impressionisme en Habits.” Connaissance Des Arts 708 (October 2012): 48–57. Reproduced: p. 55
    Morton, Mary G., George T. M. Shackelford, and Gustave Caillebotte. Gustave Caillebotte: The Painter's Eye. Washington, DC : National Gallery of Art ; Chicago, IL : Hardcover copublished by the University of Chicago Press, 2015. Reproduced: P. 143, no. 7
    Marrinan, Michael. Gustave Caillebotte: Painting the Paris of Naturalism, 1872-1887. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2016. Reproduced: p. 220, fig. 111 Mentioned: p. 224,226, 229, 232
    Ng, Aimee, Xavier F. Salomon, Stephen Truax, Hanya Yanagihara, and Jonathan Anderson. Living Histories: Queer Views and Old Masters. New York : The Frick Collection ; Lewes : in association with D Giles Limited, 2023. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 68-69, fig. 17
    Christie, Manson & Woods. Masterpieces from the Collection of Sam Josefowitz: A Lifetime of Discovery and Scholarship. London: Christie's, 2023. Reproduced: p. 223
    Allan, Scott, Gloria Lynn Groom, and Paul Perrin, eds. Gustave Caillebotte: Painting Men. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2024. Mentioned: p. 71-72, 212; Reproduced: p. 143, no. 59
    Musée d’Orsay, J. Paul Getty Museum, and Art Institute of Chicago. Caillebotte: Peindre Les Hommes, edited by Scott Allan, Gloria Lynn Groom, and Paul Perrin. Vanves, Paris: Hazan; Musée d’Orsay, 2024. Reproduced: p. 137, no. 106
    Ameille, Brice. “Les intuitions d'un Portraitiste." Dossiers de l’Art 321 (September 2024): 50-55 Reproduced: p. 51; Mentioned: p. 52
  • Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894): Painting Men. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France (organizer) (October 8, 2024-January 19, 2025); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (February 25-May 25, 2025); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (June 29-October 5, 2025).
    Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).
    Gustave Caillebotte: The Painter's Eye. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (June 28-October 4, 2015); Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (November 8, 2015-February 14, 2016).
    Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France (September 25, 2012-January 12, 2013); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (February 19-May 27, 2013); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (organizer) (June 29-September 29, 2013).
    Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1999).
    Gustave Caillebotte. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, France (1994); Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (1995).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Man|url=false|author=Gustave Caillebotte|year=1880|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2009.157