Girl with a Shell (Jeune fille à la coquille)
1863-1867
Artist, French, 1827 - 1875
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West Building Main Floor, East Sculpture Hall
Artwork overview
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Medium
marble
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 102.6 × 51.5 × 62.3 cm, 390 lb. (40 3/8 × 20 1/4 × 24 1/2 in., 176.903 kg)
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Accession
1943.4.90
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Acquired by Empress Eugénie [1826-1920] by spring 1867,[1] and possibly placed at the Palais des Tuileries, Paris, with the Carpeaux, Neapolitan Fisherboy [NGA 1943.4.89]; taken by the imperial family as private property to their first residence in exile in England, Chislehurst, probably by summer 1871; bequeathed by Eugénie, as part of the family estate at her final English residence, The Hall, Farnborough (Hampshire), to her nephew Prince Napoléon Victor Jérôme Bonaparte [1862-1926]; sold privately before the estate sales of July 1927 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); (Duveen Galleries, New York, by January 1941);[2] sold 1941 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; placed on loan March 1941 to the National Gallery of Art;[3] gift 1943 to NGA.
[1] Catalogue, Salon of 1867, no. 2165: "Appartient à S. M. l'Impératrice."
[2] "A Farnborough ont été photographiés par le comte [illegible in original document] chez l'Impératrice Eugénie les deux groupes en marbre du pêcheur et de la Jeune fille de la coquille. Ces groupes n'ont pas figuré à la vente de l'Impératrice, ni à Londres les 1er ou 7 Juillet 1927 ni à Farnborough les 18-27 Juillet 1927. (Le marbre avec son pendant ayant été à Farnborough, ont été achetés à l'amiable par Duveen.)" Registre [Elie Fabius], Archives, Fabius Frères, Paris. Pierre Fabius made available this unpublished reference. See also Royal Cortissoz, "Certain Figures in French Sculpture", New York Herald Tribune, 5 January 1941: VI:8. This article was also reprinted as a small book, with black and white illustrations of the sculptures, that served as a catalogue for the exhibition at Duveen Galleries (privately printed by the William Bradford Press, New York, 1941).
[3] In NGA registrarial files.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1867
Salon, Paris, 1867, no. 2165, as Jeune fille à la coquille.
1871
The One Hundred and Third Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1871, no. 1262, as Jeune fille à la coquille.
1941
Exhibition of Sculpture, Duveen Galleries, New York, 1941.
1974
Nineteenth-Century Sculpture, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1974, unnumbered checklist.
2014
The Passions of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux [New York title], Carpeaux, 1827-1875. Un sculpteur pour l'empire [Paris title], , The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 2014, no. 30, repro.
Bibliography
1914
Lami, Stanislas. Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'école française au dix-neuvième siècle. 4 vols. Paris, 1914-1921: 1(1914): 265.
1934
Clément-Carpeaux, Louise. La Vérité sur l'oeuvre et la vie de J.-B. Carpeaux. 2 vols. Paris, 1934-1935: 1:161-162.
1941
Cortissoz, Royal. "Certain Figures in French Sculpture." New York Herald Tribune (5 January 1941): VI:8 (reprinted as Exh. cat., Duveen Galleries, New York, 1941).
1945
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 205, repro.
1949
Seymour, Charles. Masterpieces of Sculpture from the National Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1949: 183-184, no. 54, repros. 165, 167.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 459, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 148.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 131, repro.
1976
Avery, Charles. In Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 115-117, figs. 194-196, as Young Girl with a Sea Shell.
1981
Kocks, Dirk. Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. Rezeption und Originalität. Sankt-Augustin, Germany, 1981: 61-67, fig. 282.1982.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 646, no. 1022, repro.
1992
Perry, Marvin, Myrna Chase, James R. Jacob, Margaret C. Jacob, Theodore H. Von Laue and George W. Bock (eds.). Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics and Society 4th edition, vol. 2. Boston, 1992: repro. fig. 5.
1994
Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 42, repro.
1999
Norman Herz, Katherine A. Holbrow and Shelley G. Sturman. "Marble Sculture in the National Gallery of Art: a Provenance Study." In Max Schvoerer, ed. Archéomatériaux: marbres et autres roches: ASMOSIA IV, Bordeaux, France 9-13 october 1995: actes de la IVème Conférence international de l’Association pour l’étude des marbres et autres roches utilizes dans le passé. Talence, 1999: 101-110.
2000
Butler, Ruth, and Suzanne Glover Lindsay, with Alison Luchs, Douglas Lewis, Cynthia J. Mills, and Jeffrey Weidman. European Sculpture of the Nineteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 75-79, color repro.
2012
Daniel Katz Ltd. Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux: an important pair of marbles (text by Sophie Richard). Exh. brochure. London, 2012: repro. 15, fig. 7.
2023
De Margerie, Laure. French Sculpture: An American Passion. Ghent, 2023: 252, fig. 13.
Inscriptions
incised at left rear of top of self-base: JBte Carpeaux (in cursive) / PARIS 1867. (in block letters)
Wikidata ID
Q63809779