The Adoration of the Skulls

c. 1733/1734

Michel-François Dandré-Bardon

Painter, French, 1700 - 1783

Michel-François Dandré-Bardon

Attributed to

Twelve men and perhaps a child, who is bald and wears a brown robe, kneel, sit, or prostrate themselves in front of an altar piled with three skulls in this almost square painting. All the men appear to have pale, peachy skin and wear tattered robes with hoods in shades of sky or slate blue, peanut brown, terracotta orange, or silvery gray. The man closest to the altar holds up a long cross so it almost touches the skulls. He kneels and bows deeply so his hood completely hides his face. Three more men are near him in this grouping, and another rests on the broken base of a column as he reaches forward, head bowed. The child and two taller adults stand in the background along the left edge of the composition, and four more men are clustered in the lower right corner. The two to the left in this final group have chains wrapped around their torsos and are barefoot. The leftmost reclines on one hip and looks at the open book he holds. The other two men kneel. Carnation-pink and sapphire-blue robes lie across the two steps where these four people gather. Another book and glimmering objects, perhaps pieces of armor and maybe another skull, are heaped in a pile to the left. Beyond all the people, a mint-green curtain just taller than the standing men hangs across the lower portion of a row of columns in front of pearl-white walls with molding, columns, and an arched doorway. Some brushstrokes are loose, especially in the clothing and background.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Lewis Einstein

  • Dimensions

    overall: 52.8 x 63.6 cm (20 13/16 x 25 1/16 in.)
    framed: 66.7 x 77.5 x 3.2 cm (26 1/4 x 30 1/2 x 1 1/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1956.3.1


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Probably Rizson.[1] Lewis Einstein [1877-1967], Paris; gift 1956 to NGA
[1] This name was written on painting's old stretcher, which was replaced during the relining in 1967. According to the original accession card for the painting, there was also on the old stretcher a "circular red wax seal with coat of arms and text." A photograph was taken of the handwriting on the stretcher, but there appears to have been none taken of the seal; the photograph and accession card are in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1967

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, 1967-1971.

1975

  • The Age of Louis XV: French Painting 1710-1774, The Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio; The Art Institute of Chicago; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1975-1976, no. 23, repro.

1976

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1976.

Bibliography

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 53, as French School.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 45, repro., as French School

1974

  • Rosenberg, Pierre. "Dandré-Bardon as a Draughtsman: A Group of Drawings at Stuttgart." Master Drawings 12, no. 2 (Summer 1974): 137-151.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 136, repro., as French School

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 338, no. 458, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 112, repro.

1987

  • Chol, Daniel. Michel François Dandré-Bardon ou l'apogée de la peinture en Provence au XVIIIe siècle. Aix-en-Provence, 1987: 37, no. 43, repro.

1998

  • Rosenberg, Pierre. "Un chef d'oeuvre de Dandré-Bardon (1700-1783) pour le Louvre." Revue du Louvres et des Musées de France 48, no. 5 (1998): 40-45, no. 2, color repro.

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. 25, 128-132, color repro.

Inscriptions

Attached to backing board: label "ANDRE CHENUE / LAYETIER - EMBALLEUR / EXPEDITEUR / 5. RUE DE LA TERRACE - PARIS (17E) / TEL.: WAG. 03-11 & 14-43," STAMPED WITH A "3"; label with circular inked stamp, "DA DOGANA DI FIRENZE / 4 - NOV. 05," and a written number "165"; label with the same circular inked stamp adhered to fabric (probably the previous lining fabric); label "THE PANTECHNICO / BELGRAVE SQUARE" inscribed "Hon. L. Einstein / 28 / 2 / 46" and "593."

Wikidata ID

Q20177869

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