A Chief of Abyssinia, c. 1870

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 42.23 × 32.07 cm (16 5/8 × 12 5/8 in.)

framed: 75.57 × 64.77 × 10.16 cm (29 3/4 × 25 1/2 × 4 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (Gift of Mr. R.M. Kauffmann)

Accession Number

2014.136.74

Artists / Makers

Henri Regnault (painter) French, 1843 - 1871

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower right: AR

Provenance

John W. Macartney, Washington, at least in 1897.[1] Rudolph Max Kauffmann [1882-1956], Chevy Chase, Maryland;[2] gift 21 April 1954 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.

[1] Macartney, a Washington banker, lent the painting to an exhibition in 1897 in Washington.

[2] It is possible the painting was also owned by Rudolph Kauffmann's father, Samuel H. Kauffman (1829-1906). The elder Kauffmann was one of the owners of The Washington Evening Star newspaper, and his obituary noted that his residence contained "one of the finest private art collections in Washington" ("Samuel H. Kauffmann Dead," The New York Times [16 March 1906]).

Associated Names

Corcoran Gallery of Art
Kauffmann, Rudolph Max
Macartney, John W.

Exhibition History

1897: Loan Exhibition of Paintings under the auspices of the Society of Washington Artists, Washington, 1897, no. 51, as A Chief of Abyssinia.[1]

1982: Orientalism: The Near East in French Painting 1800-1880, Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester; Neuberger Museum, State University of New York at Purchase, 1982, fig. 86.

1983: La Vie Moderne: Nineteenth Century French Art from the Corcoran Gallery, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Columbus Museum of Arts and Sciences, Georgia; Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, Northwestern University, Evanston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Tampa Museum; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha; Akron Art Museum, 1983-1985, no. 20, repro.

2014: Benjamin-Constant: Marvels and Mirages of Orientalism, Musée des Augustins, Toulouse; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2014-2015 (shown only in Montreal).

2017: The Black Figure in the European Imaginary, The George D. and Harriet W. Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, 2017.

Exhibition History Notes

[1] A torn label from this exhibition is on the painting's frame.