Return from the Hunt, 1860/1861

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 52.07 × 102.87 cm (20 1/2 × 40 1/2 in.)

framed: 85.73 × 136.53 × 15.88 cm (33 3/4 × 53 3/4 × 6 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection)

Accession Number

2015.19.32

Artists / Makers

Adolphe Monticelli (artist) French, 1824 - 1886

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower left: A. Monticelli / 1855[1]

Inscription Notes

[1] Although the painting is dated, the date may be spurious, because the style of the painting fits exactly that which the artist began to use in 1860/1861. This information is recorded on the Corcoran accession record sheet, and comes from 1978 comments by Aaron Sheon, of the Department of Fine Arts, University of Pittsburgh. Sheon, in a letter of 10 May 1978 to Corcoran curator Edward Nygren, wrote: "I feel quite certain that your 'Return from the Hunt' is the painting Monticelli exhibited in the Salon in Marseilles in 1861, with the same title. The date of 1860-61 corresponds perfectly with the style of your picture, and not at all with his early paintings from the mid-1850s." The accession record sheet and letter are in NGA curatorial files.

Provenance

Commissioned by Léon Chave [1822-1899], Marseille;[1] by inheritance to the Chave family, Marseille;[2] sold c. 1914 to William A. Clark [1839-1925], New York;[3] bequest April 1926 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art.

[1] According to André M. Alauzen and Pierre Ripert, the painting was commissioned on the occasion of Chave's marriage. See Alauzen and Ripert, Monticelli: Sa Vie et Son Oeuvre, Paris, 1969. The painting's stretcher is stamped "L. Chave, Marseilles, Cours due Chapitre 27."

[2] According to Dana H. Carroll, Catalogue of Objects of Fine Art and Other Properties at the Home of William Andrews Clark, 962 Fifth Avenue, unpublished manuscript, n.d. (1925): 199, no. 246, Clark acquired the painting from "T. Martin-Chave." It is possible that Clark was referring to Chave's daughter, Isabelle Martin-Chave, and her husband.

[3] This painting was one of three that Clark purchased from the Chave family; see letter of 12 August 1960 from Pierre Ripert, in NGA curatorial files. According to Alauzen and Ripert, Clark purchased the painting through the dealers Gill and Boyer; see note 1.

Associated Names

Chave, Léon
Clark, William Andrews
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Martin-Chave, Isabelle

Exhibition History

1861: Probably Salon de Marseilles, 1861.

1978: The William A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 26 April - 16 July 1978, unnumbered catalogue.

1989: The William A. Clark Collection: Treasures of a Copper King, Yellowstone Art Center, Billings; Montana Historical Center, Helena, 1989, unnumbered checklist.

Bibliography

1925: Carroll, Dana H. Catalogue of Objects of Fine Art and Other Properties at the Home of William Andrews Clark, 962 Fifth Avenue. Part I. Unpublished manuscript, n.d. (1925): 199, no. 246.