Pygmalion and Galatea

1781

Louis Jean François Lagrenée French, 1724-1805

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

Title Pygmalion and Galatea

Artwork Date 1781

Artist Louis Jean François Lagrenée

Life Dates 1724-1805

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: 23 3/8 × 19 1/4 inches (59.4 × 48.9 cm) Framed: 30 5/8 × 26 1/2 × 3 1/8 inches (77.8 × 67.3 × 7.9 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Long Fund, Miscellaneous Gifts Fund and City of Detroit Insurance Recovery Fund

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. 72.296

Markings

Signed Signed and dated, upper right: L Lagrenee/1781

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

December 2, 1795, probably consigned by the artist, sold by (Salle de vente, rue Française no. 13, près celle du Petit-Lion, Paris, France) Villers sale, part of lot 3

1869, sold by (Dubourg, Paris, France)

March 23, 1908, sold by (Hôtel Drouot, Paris, France) lot 31 [titled La Sculpture]

1908, purchased by Lesour de Villiers

(Galerie Joseph Hahn, Paris, France)

1972, (H. Shickman Gallery, New York, New York, USA)

1972-present, purchase by 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.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

Goncourt, E. and J. de. "Livre de raison de Louis Lagrenée." L'Art 4 (1877): pp. 25-26, 136-141, 255-260, no. 301. Reprint, Portraits intimes du XVIIIe siècle: Etudes nouvelles d'après les lettres autographes et les documents inédits, Paris, 1878, pp. 323-362.

Benezit, Dicationnaire, vol. 5. 1952, pp. 359-360. Reprint, 1966.

Sandoz, M. "Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, dit l'ainé (1725-1805), peintre d'histoire." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français (1961): pp. 115-136.

Sandoz, M. "The Drawings of Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée: Notes for a Tentative Catalogue Raisonné." Art Quarterly 26 (1963) pp. 47-70.

Bulletin of the DIA 52, no. 1 (1973): p. 66 (ill.).

"Recent Accessions of American and Canadian Museums." Art Quarterly 36 (1973): p. 115 (ill.).

K.R. "Shorter Notices: Recent Museum Acquisitions." The Burlington Magazine 115, no. 843 (June 1973): pp. 393, 399 (fig. 67).

La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité: supplement to Gazette des beaux-arts, no. 1249 (February 1972): p. 132, no. 473 (ill.).

Diderot, D. Salons, 3 vols., ed. J. Adhémar. Oxford, 1975-1983, vol. 1 p. 43 (ill.). [incorrect identification.]

Schnapper, A. "Louis Lagrenée and the Theme of Pygmalion." Bulletin of the DIA 53, nos. 3 & 4 (1975): pp.112-117 (ill. on cover).

From David to Delacroix, French Painting 1774-1830: The Age of Revolution. Exh. cat., Grand Palais, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. Paris, Detroit, and New York, 1974/1975, pp. 64, 521-522, cat. 115 (pl. 18).

Nakayama, K. and S. Takashima. Nu Feminin dans l'Art, Histoires et Legendes, vol. 6. Tokyo, 1980, no. 42.

Sandoz, M. Les Lagrenée, vol. 1 (Louis (Jean, François) Lagrenée, 1725-1805). Paris, 1983, no. 349 (ill.).

The Loves of the Gods: Mythological Painting from Watteau to David. Exh. cat., Grand Palais, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Kimbell Art Museum. Paris, Philadelphia, and Fort Worth, 1991/1992, pp. 502-507, cat. 63 (ill.).

Stoichita, Victor. O Efeito Pigmaliã: Para Uma Antropologia Histórica Dos Simulacros. Lisbon, 2011, no. 79 (ill.).

America Collects Eighteenth Century French Painting. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2017, pp. 29, 165, 172, 274-275 (pl. 13 and detail p. 29).

Betzer, Sarah. Animating the Antique: Sculptural Encounter in the Age of Aesthetic Theory. University Park, 2021, p. 159, (fig. 94 ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Louis Jean François Lagrenée, Pygmalion and Galatea, 1781, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Long Fund, Miscellaneous Gifts Fund, et al., 72.296.