E. Secrétan

French, died 1899

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A bearded man, a young man, and five monks stand in a cream-white hall hung with a map and paintings in this horizontal painting. The people all have pale, peachy skin. The scene is lit from windows lining the wall to our left, where three monks stand, presumably talking. They and the other two monks wear long white robes with marine-blue hoods and cloth panels that hang down the fronts of the cassocks. Two monks have their hoods up and the other two have their hair cut into rings around their heads. The bearded man, Christopher Columbus, stands to the right on the other side of the hall, looking at a map hanging there. He has chin-length, dark hair and wears a bronze-brown, knee-length jacket, dark blue, knee-length pantaloons, and golden yellow stockings. His right hand, closer to us, is planted palm out against his hip, and he holds a red hat in that hand. The other foot is perched on a long bench that stretches along that wall. The young man sits and leans back on the bench with one forearm along the bench’s armrest. His other hand rests on Columbus’s knee, and Columbus rests his hand on that. The boy has long brown hair and wears a red cap, a parchment-white robe over yellow sleeves, sage-green stockings, and laced, toeless boots. Two bundles and a long stick are against the wall on our side of the bench. An object on the floor next to Columbus’s standing leg is covered by a brown cloth. A gold chain and a pink hoof protrude from the blanket. One of the monks standing behind Columbus wears a tight-fitting blue cap. A rosary hangs over his cassock from his waist, and extra panels of blue fabric drape down over his shoulders. Four paintings in our view hang near the high ceiling of the hall, which has arched openings and a pink floor. Doors or oversized shutters swing into view at the far end of the hall. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “Eug. Delacroix. 1838.”
Eugène Delacroix, Christopher Columbus and His Son at La Rábida, 1838, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.127

Christopher Columbus and His Son at La Rábida

Eugène Delacroix · 1838 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.127

Dense canopies enclose a forested interior along a stream in this horizontal landscape painting. Only a couple small patches of ultramarine-blue sky peek through the canopies, which are painted with dabs and strokes of pine, olive, and spring green. Dark trunks stand straight or curve up through the foliage. The stream begins in the lower right corner of the canvas and moves into the distance along the right half of the composition. Rippling water is painted with shades of muted green, ice blue, and very pale pink. Grassy patches line the dirt ground to the left. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “G. Courbet ’55.”
Gustave Courbet, The Stream (Le Ruisseau du Puits-Noir; vallée de la Loue), 1855, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. P.H.B. Frelinghuysen in memory of her father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, 1943.15.2

The Stream (Le Ruisseau du Puits-Noir; vallée de la Loue)

Gustave Courbet · 1855 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1943.15.2

Bibliography

1889

  • Christie, Manson & Woods. Ancient and Modern Pictures [from the] Secrétan Collection [auction cat.]. London, 13 July 1889.

1899

  • La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité 1899, no. 11 (18 March):100