Madame Henriette de France as a Vestal Virgin

ca. 1749

Jean Marc Nattier French, 1685-1766

On View

Fashionable Living: Kanzler Room, Level 3, South Wing

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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About the Artwork

Title Madame Henriette de France as a Vestal Virgin

Artwork Date ca. 1749

Artist Jean Marc Nattier

Life Dates 1685-1766

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. French

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 71 × 52 1/2 inches (180.3 × 133.4 cm) Framed: 91 × 71 1/4 × 5 3/4 inches (231.1 × 181 × 14.6 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 43.417

Markings

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

Lord Hertford (London, England)

Sir Richard Wallace (London, England)

Sir John Murray Scott (Paris, France)

May 18, 1925, sold by (Georges Petit, Paris, France) auction Jacques Seligmann [for 39000 francs]

sold by Cailleux (Paris, France) [for 80,000 francs]

purchased by (Marcel Jonas on behalf of Felix Wildenstein, Paris, France)

by September 4, 1925, (Felix Wildenstein, Paris, France) [asked 1,800,000 FF]

until 1943, William Randolph Hearst [1863-1951]

1943, sold by (Gimbel Brothers and Dr. Armand Hammer, New York, New York, USA) representing the Hearst Estate

Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb

1943--present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Catalogue des Objets D'Art et D'Ameublement du XIIIe au XVIIIe Siècle et Autres. Sales. cat., Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, May 18, 1925, p. 28–29, no. 38.

Curiosa. "Lundi 18 Mai: Galerie Georges Petit," Le Figaro Artistique 2, no. 78 (June 11, 1925): p. 556.

"Vendredi 8 Mai," Le Figaro Artistique 2, no. 77 (June 4, 1925): p. 539 (ill.).

“Madame Sophie de France, by J.M. Nattier.” International Studio 85, no. 355 (December 1926): 53, p. 53 (ill.). [as "Madame Sophie de France"]

The Fourth Loan Exhibition of Old Masters: French Paintings of the Eighteenth Century. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts, 1926, unpaginated, no. 40 (ill.). [As "Mme. Sophie de France"]

Masterworks of Five Centuries. Exh. cat., Golden Gate International Exposition. San Francisco, 1939, unpaginated, no. 122. [As "Madame Sophie de France as a Vestal Virgin"]

Richardson, Edgar P. "Madame Henriette de France as a Vestal Virgin by Jean-Marc Nattier." Bulletin of the DIA 23, no. 1 (October 1943): 1–3, pp. 1–3 (ill.).

Richardson, Edgar P. "Madame Henriette de France by Nattier." Art Quarterly 6, no. 4 (Autumn 1943): 239–256, pp. 239–256 (ill.).

Richardson, Edgar P., ed. Catalogue of Paintings: The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1944, pp. 95, 178, no. 659 (ill.).

Richardson, E.P. "Nattier, Madame Henriette de France as a Vestal Virgin." In Favorite Paintings from the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1948, pp. 32 (ill.), 41–44, no. VII, pl. VII.

Richardson, Edgar P. Catalogue of the Paintings and Sculpture Given by Edgar B. Whitcomb and Anna Scripps Whitcomb to the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1954, frontispiece, p. 85 (ill.).

Gimpel René. Journal d’un Collectionneur: Marchand de Tableaux. Paris, 1963, p. 297.

Wallace Collection Catalogues: Pictures and Drawings,16th ed. London, 1968, p. 217. [As "Madame Henriette de France as a Vestal Virgin"]

Bottineau, Yves. L'art Baroque. Paris, 1986, pp. 244, 248–249 (ill.).

Collection du Baron de Redé Provenant de L’Hôtel Lambert. Sales cat., Sotheby's, Paris, March 16, 2005, p. 136 (ill.).

Derstine, Andria. "Recent Research on Jean-Marc Nattier's 'Portrait of a Woman as a Vestal Virgin.'" Bulletin of the DIA 83, no. 1/4 (2009): 22–37, pp. 22–37.

Ackerman, Alfred. "Technical Notes on Nattier's 'Portrait of a Woman as a Vestal Virgin.'" Bulletin of the DIA 83, no. 1/4 (2009): 38–39, pp. 38–39 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Jean Marc Nattier, Madame Henriette de France as a Vestal Virgin, ca. 1749, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb, 43.417.