A Young Woman Reading

c. 1866/1868

Gustave Courbet

Artist, French, 1819 - 1877

Shown from the waist up, a woman with pale, peachy skin reads a book with one elbow propped on a grassy bank in this horizontal painting. The woman’s body is angled to our right, and she looks down at a pale green-covered book held in her right hand, which is in the lower left corner of the composition. The woman has dark brows over hooded eyes, and her dark brown hair falls loosely behind her shoulders. She has a round face, straight nose, and pale lips. She touches her hair with her left hand, to our right, with that pinky delicately crooked. One strap of a sleeveless, pearl-white chemise falls off the shoulder of that arm, and the dress nestles around her belly, revealing much of the other breast. Leafy trees and gray rocks are loosely painted behind her. The artist signed the painting in the lower right corner, “G. Courbet.”

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 90

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 60 x 72.9 cm (23 5/8 x 28 11/16 in.)
    framed: 81.3 x 94.6 cm (32 x 37 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.114

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist to (Durand-Ruel et Cie., Paris) in 1872.[1] (sale, comte de R..., Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 27 January 1875, no. 14, as Femme lisant, 650 francs). Ad. Reitlinger, Paris, by 1882.[2] Alexandre Bernheim-Jeune [d. 1915], Paris.[3] Alexandre Berthier, 4th prince de Wagram [1883-1918], Paris. (Jos Hessel, Paris), in 1923.[4] (E.J. van Wisselingh & Co., Amsterdam), in 1924. (Etienne Bignou, Paris), in 1924; sold to (Paul Rosenberg, Paris);[5] sold before 1931 to Max Silberberg [d. 1944], Breslau, Germany [now Wroclaw, Poland];[6] (his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 9 June 1932, no. 18); Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.
[1] According to a letter from Robert Fernier to David Rust dated 31 July 1972, in NGA curatorial files. According to the Bignou photo albums at the Documentation center of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, the picture passed through the Barbazanges gallery, but that has not been confirmed by any other source.
[2] Lent by Reitlinger to Exposition des Oeuvres de Gustave Courbet, Ecole national superieure des beaux-arts, Paris, 1882, no. 30.
[3] According to Chester Dale papers in NGA curatorial files.
[4] According to Chester Dale papers in NGA curatorial files. In Robert Fernier, La vie et l'oeuvre de Gustave Courbet, catalogue raisonné, Lausanne and Paris, 1977: I:172, no. 287, Hessel is not listed in the provenance except as an expert in the 1932 Silberberg sale.
[5] In a letter to Chester Dale dated 5 August 1932, in NGA curatorial files, Paul Rosenberg says the painting went through several hands from the Reitlinger collection, and that Rosenberg bought the painting from Bignou and sold it to Silberberg. Chester Dale papers in NGA curatorial files give Rosenberg and Bignou as joint owners, after van Wisselingh, in 1926.
[6] Published in Karl Scheffler, "Die Sammlung Max Silberberg," Kunst und Kunstler, October 1931, repro. p. 7.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1882

  • Exposition des oeuvres de Gustave Courbet, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1882, no. 30

1912

  • Exposition centennale de l'art français. Saint Petersberg, 1912, no. 350

1914

  • Exposition d'art français du XIX siècle, Musée Royal de Copenhague, 1914, no. 39, repro.

1922

  • Tentoonstelling van Hollandsche en Fransche Kunst, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, 1922

1925

  • Les grandes influences au dix-huitième siècle. De Ingres à Cezanne, Galerie Rosenberg, Paris, 1925, no. 3, as La Liseuse

1930

  • Ausstellung Gustave Courbet, Galerie Wertheim, Berlin, 1930, no. 36, repro.

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

2010

  • From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, January 2010-January 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro. (through September 2011 only).

Bibliography

1897

  • Estignard, Alexandre. G. Courbet, sa vie et ses oeuvres. Besançon, 1896: 187.

1912

  • Brune, P. Dictionnaire des artists et ouvriers d'art de la France: Franche-Comté. Paris, 1912: 68.

  • Institut Français de St. Petersbourg. Exposition Centennale de l'art français. Exh. cat., Saint Petersburg, 1912: no. 350.

  • Monod, François. "L'Exposition Centennale de l'art français." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 4th ser., vol 7 (April 1912): 313.

1914

  • Moeller, Tyge. "Correspondance de Danemark: l'Exposition de l'art français du XIXe siècle á Copenhague." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 5th ser., vol 12 (1914): 161.

1922

  • Fontainas, André, and Louis Vauxcelles. Histoire générale de l'art français de la Revolution à nos jours. Paris, 1922: 85, repro.

1927

  • Kahn, G. L'Art et les Artistes 15, no. 2 (October 1927): 1, repro.

  • Zervos, Christian. "Idéalisme et naturalisme dans la peinture moderne." Cahiers d'Art 2, no. 9 (1927): 293, repro.

1929

  • Léger, Charles. Courbet. Paris, 1929: 179, pl. 64.

1930

  • Kunst und Künstler 29 (November 1930): 85, repro.

1931

  • Scheffler, Karl. "Die Sammlung Max Silberberg." Kunst und Künstler 30 (October 1931): 6-7, repro.

1932

  • Beaux-Arts 6, no. 18 (25 June 1932): 9, repro.

  • Cahiers d'Art 7, no. 1/2 (1932): 41, repro.

  • Art News 30 (28 May 1932): 9, repro.

1941

  • Catalogue of French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 4, pl. VI.

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. "Now the Great French 19th Century in the National Gallery." Art News 40, no. 17 (December 15-31, 1941):repro. p. 18

1942

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 29, repro.

1944

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1944: 29, repro.

1953

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1953: 35, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 33.

  • Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 51, repro.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 26, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 84, repro.

1977

  • Fernier, Robert. La Vie et l'oeuvre de Gustave Courbet, catalogue raisonné. Peintures, 1819-1865. Paris, 1977: 172, no. 287, as La Liseuse d'Ornans.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 445, no. 640, color repro.

1985

  • Courthion, Pierre. L'opera completa di Courbet. Milan, 1985: no. 266, repro.

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 103, repro.

2000

  • Eitner, Lorenz. French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I: Before Impressionism. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 126-130, color repro.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 359, no. 296, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: G.Courbet.

Wikidata ID

Q20188692

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