The Tragic Actor (Rouvière as Hamlet)
1866
Artist, French, 1832 - 1883


West Building Main Floor, Gallery 90
Artwork overview
-
Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 187.2 x 108.1 cm (73 11/16 x 42 9/16 in.)
framed: 216.6 x 138.4 cm (85 1/4 x 54 1/2 in.) -
Accession
1959.3.1
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Artwork history & notes
Provenance
The artist; purchased January 1872 by (Durand-Ruel et Cie, Paris and New York).[1] Jean-Baptiste Faure [1830-1914], Paris.[2] re-acquired by (Durand-Ruel et Cie, Paris and New York), by December 1878;[3] sold 1898 to George Washington Vanderbilt III [1862-1914], Biltmore, near Asheville, and Washington, D.C.;[4] by inheritance to his wife, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser Vanderbilt Gerry [1873-1958], Providence; bequest 1959 to NGA.
[1] The painting was Durand-Ruel's stock number 953; see e-mail from Juliet Bareau to Betsy Coman, 9 December 2002, in NGA curatorial files. The date of the sale is given as December 1871 in Etienne Moreau-Nélaton, Manet raconté par lui-même, 2 vols., Paris, 1926: 1:130, and Paul Jamot and Georges Wildenstein, Manet, 2 vols., Paris, 1932: 1:89, 132.
[2] The painting is thought to have been acquired from Durand-Ruel by Faure, a celebrated singer and collector, and then sold back to the dealer at a later date. However, there is no record of either transaction. See Jamot and Wildenstein 1932, 1:132, who list Faure as an owner, and Anthea Callen, "Faure and Manet," Gazette des Beaux-arts 83 (March 1974): 171, 178 n. 91.
[3] The painting was Durand-Ruel's stock number 1213; see 2002 e-mail mentioned in note 1.
[4] The 1898 sale date to Vanderbilt is given in the entry for the painting in the exhibition catalogue, Manet en el Prado, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2003. See also Théodore Duret, Histoire d'Édouard Manet et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1902: 212, who places the painting with Vanderbilt.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1867
Tableaux de Edouard Manet, Avenue de l'Alma, Paris, 1867, no. 18.
1883
Foreign Exhibition, Art Department, Boston, 1883, no. 67.
1895
Exhibition of Paintings by Edouard Manet, Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, 1895, no. 13.
1915
Loan to display with permanent collection, National Gallery of Art of the Smithsonian Institution's U.S. National Museum, Washington, D.C., 1915-1916 (this National Gallery of Art became the National Collection of Fine Arts, then the National Museum of American Art, then the Smithsonian American Art Museum).
1921
Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1921, no. 59.
1924
Exhibition of Paintings: Edouard Manet, Pierre Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1924, no. 10.
1982
Manet and Modern Paris, National Gallery of Art, 1982-1983, no. 27, repro.
1983
Manet, Grand Palais, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1983, no. 89, repro.
1986
A Magic Mirror: The Portrait in France 1700-1900, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1986-1987, no. 35, repro.
1998
Loan for display with permanent collection, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1998.
1999
Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 15, repro.
Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no catalogue.
2003
Manet en el Prado, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2003-2004, no.67, repro.
Manet/Velázquez, La manière espagnole au XIXe siècle [Manet/Velázquez, The French Taste for Spanish Painting], Musée d'Orsay, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2002-2003, no. 92, fig. 32 (Paris cat.), no. 150, fig. 9.56 (New York cat.).
2011
The Tragic Muse: Art and Emotion, 1700-1900, David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, 2011, no. 17, fig. 9.
2012
Manet: Portraying Life, Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2012-2013, no. 33, repro.
Bibliography
1884
Bazire, Edmond. Manet. PAris, 1884: 46, 48, 115-116
1902
Duret, Theodore. Histoire d'Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre.Paris, 1902:no. 77.
1904
Mauclair, Camille. L'Impressionisme, son histoire, son esthétique, ses maîtres. Paris, 1904: 52, repro.
1910
Duret, Théodore. Manet and the French Impressionists. Translated by J.E. Crawford Flitch. London and Philadelphia, 1910: 33-34, 83-84, 222, no. 77.
1912
Meier-Graefe, Julius. Edouard Manet. Munich, 1912:254, 310
1913
Proust, Antonin. Eduard Manet Paris, 1913: 49
1918
Duret, Theodore. "Les Portraits peints par Manet et refusés par leur modèles," La Renaissance de l'art français I, no. 5 (July 1918):144-152
1919
Duret, Theodore. Histoire de Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre. Paris, 1919:51-52, 130, 151-152, 245.
1923
Waldmann, Emil. Edouard Manet. Berlin, 1923: 19, 72, repro.
1925
Blanche, Jacques-Emile. Manet. New York, 1925: 40-42.
1926
Moreau-Nélaton, Etienne. Manet raconté par lui-même. 2 vols. Paris, 1926: 1:76-77, 79, 132, fig. 86.
1927
Jamot, Paul. "Manet, 'le fifre' et Victoirine Meurend," La Revue de l'art ancien et moderne LI, no. 282 (January 1927):31-41.
1928
Crépet, Eugène. Charles Baudelaire. Paris, 1928:390
1931
Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet: histoire catalographique. Paris, 1931:143-144
1932
Bazin, Germain. "Manet et la tradition," L'Amour de l'art 13, no. 5 (May 1932):160, 167.
Colin, Paul. Edouard Manet. Paris, 1932: 32
Jamot, Paul and Georges Wildenstein. Manet Paris, 1932: 1:34, 132, no. 125.
1939
Venturi, Lionello. Les archives de l'impressionnisme. 2 vols. Paris and New York, 1939: II: 190.
1941
Jedlicka, Gotthard. Edouard Manet. Erlenbach and Zurich, 1941: 88.
1942
Tabarant, Adolphe. La vie artistique au temps de Baudelaire. Paris,1942: 436, 438, 442, 461, 488.
1946
Huth, Hans. "Impressionism Comes to America," Gazette des Beaux-arts XXIX (April 1946): 229.
1947
Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet et ses Oeuvres. Paris, 1947: 103-4, 122-124, 126, 134, 136, 195
Florisoone, Michel. Manet. Monaco, 1947: XXI
1948
Bex, Maurice. Manet. Columbia series. New York, 1948: 12, 41
1954
Hamilton, George Heard. Manet and His Critics. New Haven, 1954: 81, 100, 107, 122, 155, 202, 265, repro 11.
1955
Bataille, Georges. Manet. Translated by Austryn Wainhouse and James Emmons. Lausanne, 1955:10
1959
Hemmings, F.W.J. and Robert Niess, eds. Emile Zola: Salons. Geneva, 1959:17, 98.
Richardson, E. P., ed. "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, April-June 1959." The Art Quarterly 22, no. 3 (Autumn 1959): 274, repro.
Larsen-Roman, Lucy. "Letter from America." Alte und Neue Kunst 10, Heft 4 (1959):25, repro.
1960
La Chronique des Arts, supplèment à la Gazette des Beaux-arts 1092 (January 1960): 41, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 81, as The Tragedian (Rouvière as Hamlet).
1966
Hamilton, Geroge Heard. "Is Manet Still Modern?," Art News Annual XXXI (1966): 105-131, 159-163, repro.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 72, repro., The Tragedian (Rouvière as Hamlet).
1970
Orienti, Sandra. The Complete Paintings of Manet. London, 1970: no. 90
1972
Bazin, Germain. Eduard Manet. Milan, 1972: 8, 29, 92-93
1974
Callen, Anthea. "Faure and Manet," Gazette des Beaux-Arts LXXXIII (March 1974):157-178.
1975
Dorival, Bernard. "Quelques sources méconnues de diverse ouvrages de Manet: de la sculpture gothique à la photographie," Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'art français (1975):321, repro.
Mauner, George. Manet: Peintre-Philosophe. University Park and London, 1975: 140, 143-144, 146-147, repro.
Solkin, David. "Philibert Rouvière: Eduard Manet's 'L'Acteur Tragique,'" The Burlington Magazine CXVII, no. 872 (November 1975):702-709.
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 210, repro., as The Tragedian (Rouvière as Hamlet).
Rouart, Denis and Daniel Wildenstein. Edouard Manet, catalogue raisonné 2 vols. Lausanne and Paris, 1975:I:no. 106, repro.
1976
Reff, Theodore. "Review of Eduard Manet, Catalogue raisonné by Denis Rouart and Daniel Wildenstein," Art Bulletin (1976): 632+.
Richardson, John. Manet. Oxford, 1976: 12.
1977
Keller, Harald. "Manet als Porträtist," in Festschrift für Otto von Simson. Frankfurt, Berlin and Vienna, 1977: 531+.
1981
Farwell, Beatrice. "Manet and the Nude: A Study in Iconography in the Second Empire." Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1973. New York, 1981: 102.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 449, no. 649, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 243, repro.
Spencer, Robin. "Whistler, Manet, and the Avante-Garde," in Studies in the History of Art 19 (1985): 50, repro.
1987
Spencer, Robin. "Whistler, Manet, and the Tradition of the Avant-Garde." Studies in the History of Art 19 (1987): 50, repro.
1991
Darragon, Eric. Manet. Paris, 1991:10, 140, 159, repro. 89
Wilson-Bareau, Juliet, ed. Manet by Himself: Paintings, Pastels, Prints, and Drawings. London, 1991: 38, fig. 88
1992
Carr-Gomm, Sarah. Manet. London, 1992: 78, repro.
Stevenson, Lesley. Manet. New York, 1992:71, repro.
Wilson-Bareau, Juliet. Manet, The Execution of Maximilian: Painting, Politics and Censorship. London, 1992:35
1993
Perutz, Vivien. Edouard Manet. Lewisburg, London and Toronto, 1993: repro. 18
1994
Rubin, James H. Manet's Silence and the Poetics of Bouquets. Cambridge, 1994: fig. 21.
Swan, Daniel C. "In the Shadow of Cushing," Gilcrease Journal 2 (1994):57, repro.
1996
Roos, Jane Mayo. Early Impressionism and the French State (1866-1874). Cambridge, 1996: 54, 56, fig. 44.
1997
Fernandez, Dominique and Ferrante Ferranti. Le Musée d'Émile Zola: haines et passion, 1997, p. 68, repro.
2001
Bailey, Colin, ed. Gustav Klimt Modernism in the Making. Exh cat. National Gallery of Canada, 2001:83, repro.
2010
Parigi. Gli anni meravigliosi. Exh. cat. Castel Sismondon, Rimini, 2010: 84.
Inscriptions
lower right: Manet
Wikidata ID
Q20188686