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French 18th Century

Portrait of a Woman, c. 1711

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 69.2 x 58.7 cm (27 1/4 x 23 1/8 in.)

framed: 96.2 x 86.4 cm (37 7/8 x 34 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1946.7.17

Artists / Makers

French 18th Century (painter)

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Provenance

Possibly Abbé Thuelin, Paris. possibly James de Rothschild [1792-1868], Châtea de Boulogne, Paris. possibly Lamorélie, Brittany. possibly Baron de Fourment, Château de Cercamp, near Frévent; possibly (his estate sale, Château de Cercamp, 21-28 April 1892, no. 50, as Bon Portrait de Femme by Largillierre). (Wildenstein & Co., Paris, New York, and London), by 1929; sold December 1944 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[1] gift 1946 to NGA.

[1] Colin Eisler, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian, Oxford, 1977: 296-297, gives the possible early provenance without documenting his sources. The memorandum of agreement between Wildenstein & Co. and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for the sale of ten paintings, including Portrait of Sylvia by Jean Antoine Watteau, is dated 28 December 1944 (copy in NGA curatorial files). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1710.

Associated Names

Fourment, Baron
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Lamorélie
Rothschild, James de
Sale, France
Thuelin, Abbé
Wildenstein & Co., Inc.

Exhibition History

1929: French XVIIIth Century Painting, Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1929, no. 14.

1939: The Sources of Modern Painting, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (organized by The Institute of Modern Art, Boston); Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1939, no. 6, repro. (shown only in New York), as by Watteau.

1946: Recent Additions to the Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1946, no. 789.

Bibliography

1945: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 159, repro., as Watteau, "Sylvia" (Jeanne-Rose Guyonne Benozzi)

1946: Frankfurter, Alfred M. Supplement to the Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1946: 62, repro. as Jeanne-Rose-Guyonne Benozzi by Watteau.

1948: Wildenstein and Company. French XVIII Century Paintings. New York, 1948: 4.

1956: Einstein, Lewis. “Looking at French Eighteenth-Century Pictures in Washington.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts ser. 6, 47, no. 1048-1049 (May – June 1956): 215-216, 219, fig. 5.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 349, repro., as Watteau, "Sylvia" (Jeanne-Rose Guyonne Benozzi).

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 139, as Watteau, "Sylvia" (Jeanne-Rose Guyonne Benozzi).

1966: Prierard, Gabriel, and Paul Lefranq. "Au cercle archéologique: Watteau a-t-il pu être l'auteur du portrait de la Benozzi-la Silvia de Marivaux--du Musée de Washington?" La Voix du Nord (3 February 1966): 241.

1968: Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 70, color repro.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 126, repro., as Watteau, "Sylvia" (Jeanne-Rose Guyonne Benozzi).

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 374, repro., as Watteau, "Sylvia" (Jeanne-Rose-Guyonne Benozzi).

1977: Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 296-297, fig. 264, as Portrait of a Lady ['Sylvia'].

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 330, no. 437, as "Sylvia" (Jeanne-Rose-Guyonne Benozzi) by Antoine Watteau.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 435, repro., as Watteau, "Sylvia" (Jeanne-Rose-Guyonne Benozzi).

2009: Conisbee, Philip, et al. French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2009: no. 49, 229-231, color repro.