Vivant Denon

Denon, Dominique-Vivant the Baron

French, 1747 - 1825

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French artist, writer, diplomat, author, and archaeologist (1747-1825)

Explore Selected Works

Jean Honoré Fragonard, Don Quixote Defeated by the Windmill, 1780s, brush with brown and gray washes over charcoal on laid paper, Gift of Gertrude Laughlin Chanler, 2000.9.10

Don Quixote Defeated by the Windmill

Jean Honoré Fragonard · 1780s · brush with brown and gray washes over charcoal on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2000.9.10

Jean Honoré Fragonard, Don Quixote about to Strike the Helmet, 1780s, brush with brown and gray washes over charcoal on laid paper, laid down, Gift of Gertrude Laughlin Chanler, 2000.9.6

Don Quixote about to Strike the Helmet

Jean Honoré Fragonard · 1780s · brush with brown and gray washes over charcoal on laid paper, laid down ·  Accession ID  2000.9.6

Jean Honoré Fragonard, Don Quixote Attacking the Windmill, 1780s, black chalk with brown and gray wash on laid paper, Gift of Gertrude Laughlin Chanler, 2000.9.9

Don Quixote Attacking the Windmill

Jean Honoré Fragonard · 1780s · black chalk with brown and gray wash on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2000.9.9

Jean Honoré Fragonard, The Muleteer Attacking Don Quixote as He Lies Helpless on the Ground, 1780s, brush with brown and gray washes over black chalk on laid paper, Gift of Gertrude Laughlin Chanler, 2000.9.13

The Muleteer Attacking Don Quixote as He Lies Helpless on the Ground

Jean Honoré Fragonard · 1780s · brush with brown and gray washes over black chalk on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2000.9.13

Jean Honoré Fragonard, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza Witness the Attack on Rocinante, 1780s, black chalk with gray and brown wash on laid paper, Gift of Gertrude Laughlin Chanler, 2000.9.7

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza Witness the Attack on Rocinante

Jean Honoré Fragonard · 1780s · black chalk with gray and brown wash on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2000.9.7

Federico Zuccaro, The Sermons and Deeds of the Antichrist, 1570, black and red chalk on laid paper, laid down on old mount, Gift of Donald Stone, 2022.40.34

The Sermons and Deeds of the Antichrist

Federico Zuccaro · 1570 · black and red chalk on laid paper, laid down on old mount ·  Accession ID  2022.40.34

Jean Honoré Fragonard, Don Quixote Attacking the Biscayan, 1780s, brush with brown and gray washes over charcoal on laid paper, Gift of Gertrude Laughlin Chanler, 2000.9.8

Don Quixote Attacking the Biscayan

Jean Honoré Fragonard · 1780s · brush with brown and gray washes over charcoal on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2000.9.8

Jean Honoré Fragonard, A Prayer for Grandpapa, late 1770s, brown wash over black chalk on laid paper, The Armand Hammer Collection, 1991.217.17

A Prayer for Grandpapa

Jean Honoré Fragonard · late 1770s · brown wash over black chalk on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1991.217.17

About three dozen people gather in a grassy field to either side of a crumbling structure to kneel and pray before a woman and baby in the center of this horizontal painting. The woman, Mary, and baby, Jesus, have smooth, pale skin while the others have light or tanned skin. The structure has sand-colored stone pillars, a wooden triangular, pitched roof, and a straw floor. Mary, who has an elongated torso, sits facing us with her knees apart. She wears an azure-blue robe over a rose-pink dress. A shell-pink veil covers her head and body. Jesus sits on her left knee, his pudgy body angled to our left. He is nude except for a transparent cloth wrapped over one shoulder and the opposite hip. Mary’s left hand braces his torso. On Mary’s right, our left, Joseph, an older man, stands facing us. He clasps his hands at his chest and leans on a long stick. He has wrinkled skin, long, gray curly hair, and a full beard. Both Mary and Joseph tilt their heads to their right, our left, as they look down at Jesus. Joseph wears a golden yellow robe over a blue tunic. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus have faint gold halos. Behind them, a brown cow and gray donkey rest on the straw. People closest to Mary and Jesus kneel and bow their heads while the people to the left and right sides mostly stand. Three men kneeling closest to Mary and Jesus offer gifts, including a bronze vessel and a gold jar. One man has long dark brown hair and a beard, and wears a gold crown. Another man is bald with long gray hair and beard, while the third is cleanshaven with shoulder-length brown hair. These men wear robes in powder blue, carnation pink, or celery green with delicate silver and gold embelishments. Others in the crowd range in age from young and cleanshaven to older and bearded. They wear robes and tunics in shades of raspberry pink, butterscotch yellow, lapis blue, plum purple, or forest green. Several horses, their coats white or cinnamon brown, stand among the crowd, a few with riders. To our right, one horse rears its head and two others stand facing each other. Beyond the crowd, grassy green meadows and hills dotted with trees lead back to the horizon. A pale blue sky fills the top third of the composition.
Sandro Botticelli, The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1478/1482, tempera and oil on poplar panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.22

The Adoration of the Magi

Sandro Botticelli · c. 1478/1482 · tempera and oil on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.22

Bibliography

1877

  • Clément de Ris, Louis Torterat. Les amateurs d'autrefois. Paris, 1877: 315-341 (reprint Geneva, 1973).

1973

  • Chatelain, Jean. Dominique Vivant Denon et le Louvre de Napoleon. Paris, 1973.

1993

  • Lelièvre, Pierre. Vivant Denon: homme des lumières 'ministre des arts' de Napoleon. Paris, 1993