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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1948.15.10
People
Cecilia Beaux, American (Philadelphia, PA 1855 - 1942 Philadelphia, PA)
Title
Study for the Portrait of Désiré Joseph Mercier
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1919
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/229505

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on wood panel
Dimensions
26 x 18.1 cm (10 1/4 x 7 1/8 in.)
framed: 29.9 x 21.6 x 1.9 cm (11 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 3/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: back of board, black ink, in artist's hand: Sketch for portrait / of the Cardinal / Mercier owned / by National Gallery / in Washington / C. Beaux
  • label: back of board, graphite on paper, handwritten: 16
  • inscription: back of board, black ink, stencilled, French: 3 / BLANCHET / 38 / RUE BONAPARTE / PARIS

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
By descent from the artist to her nephew, Dr. Cecil K. Drinker; his gift to the Fogg Art Museum, 1948.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Dr. Cecil K. Drinker
Accession Year
1948
Object Number
1948.15.10
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Mercier was made Cardinal in 1907. The finished version of this painting is at the National Gallery of American Art/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

Publication History

  • The Paintings and Drawings of Cecilia Beaux, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia, PA, 1955), p. 79
  • Cecilia Beaux: Portrait of an Artist, exh. cat., Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia, PA, 1974), no. 70, repr. p. 114
  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Virginia Anderson, and Kimberly Orcutt, ed., American Paintings at Harvard, Volume Two, Paintings, Drawings, Pastels and Stained Glass by Artists Born 1826-1856, Harvard Art Museums and Yale University Press (U.S.) (Cambridge, MA and New Haven, CT, 2008), p. 40, cat. no. 13

Exhibition History

  • Cecilia Beaux: Portrait of an Artist, Museum of the Philadelphia Civic Center, Philadephia, 09/06/1974 - 10/20/1974; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, 01/21/1975 - 03/02/1975

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu