Object number1972.2
The Defense of Paris (Memories of 1870)
Date1871
Artist
Gustave Doré
(French, 1832-1883)
CultureFrench
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 76 1/2 x 51 in. (194.31 x 129.54 cm)
Framed: 87 x 61 3/4 x 4 1/8 in. (220.98 x 156.85 x 10.48 cm)
Framed: 87 x 61 3/4 x 4 1/8 in. (220.98 x 156.85 x 10.48 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, Suzette Morton Davidson, class of 1934, Fund
On View
On viewPeriod19th c
Classification(s)
Collection Felix Gerard;
Sale Felix Gerard, pere;
Shepherd Gallery, New York;
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. David Eames, New York;
Purchase by VC Art Gallery with the Suzette Morton Davidson Fund, 1972
Vassar Exhibitions
Exhibition HistoryStrasbourg, France, Musee d’Art Moderne "Gustave Dore," 10 June - 31 August 1983;South Hadley, MA, Mount Holyoke Art Musuem, “Highlights from the Vassar College Art Gallery Collection,” August 2 - November 19, 1990;
New York, New York, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, “Highlights from the Vassar College Collection,” July 13 - September 11, 1993;
Poughkeepsie, FLLAC, Vassar College, “The Lines of Battle: Images of War From the Fifteenth to Twentieth Centuries’: September 26 - December 14, 1997;
New York, New York, Dahesh Museum of Art, "Fantasy and Faith: The Art of Gustave Dore," January 23 - April 22, 2007;
Japan, Shimane Art Museum, "Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York," March 7 - May 11, 2008. Cat. no. 1, p. 41;
Japan, Ishibashi Museum of Art, "Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York," May 17 - July 20, 2008;
Japan, Yamagata Museum of Art, "Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York," July 30 - August 31, 2008;
Japan. Fuchu Art Museum, "Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York," September 6 - November 3, 2008;
Japan, Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum, "Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York," November 14 - December 14, 2008;
Paris, France, Musee D'Orsay, "Gustave Dore: Master of Imagination," February 10 - May 11, 2014, Cat. no. 151 repr.;
Ottawa, Canada, National Gallery of Canada, "Gustave Dore: Master of Imagination," June 13 - September 14, 2014, Cat. no. 151 repr.
Label TextDoré pulls us in with his heroic winged figure of the French Republic surrounded by battle casualties. The painting is part of a trilogy of oils by the artist on the Franco-Prussian war. Larger than life, it exposes his sympathetic view of Paris during the siege of the city in late 1870. Like many other French painters who lived through this bloody “abyss,” as Doré put it, he combines allegory with his memories of the war. Earlier artists had done the same, such as Delacroix in his spirited canvas, Liberty Leading the People from France’s July Revolution in 1830, and classical and Renaissance artists centuries before. Known today for his wood-engraved illustrations, Doré was a prolific painter who often imbued his works with a sweeping theatricality. Here, his figure of France recalls the grand Hellenistic statue of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory.
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Félix Hilaire Buhot
1879-1880
Culture: French
