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Designs for the decoration of a door representing the Tragedy of Oedipus

Maker

(artist)
1841-1919

Title

Date of Production

(circa) 1895

Medium

black chalk on laid paper; paper under the right-most figure is stained with multiple small brown circles

Dimensions

Height: 31.7 cm
Width: 48.5 cm

Accession Number

D.1978.PG.245

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

In this study for the decoration of a door, Renoir developed the poses of two figures from the Greek myth Oedipus. The project was probably undertaken for Renoir’s friend and wealthy collector, Paul Gallimard, but never executed. On the left is presumably Jocasta, Oedipus’ mother, whom he married after unwittingly killing his father, while on the right is Oedipus. These sketches show Renoir striving to capture the tragedy of the story through the dynamic movements of the figures.

Provenance

presumably acquired directly from the artist by Ambroise Vollard, Paris (1867-1939); Dr Alfred Scharf, London (1900-1965), by November 1948 (when he wrote to Count Seilern offering it for sale); purchased from him by Count Antoine Seilern, London (1901-1978), June 1949 (£270, as a study for the ballet 'Orphée'); Princes Gate Bequest 1978

Exhibition History

Renoir - Tradition and Innovation, National Art Center, Tokyo, 20/01/2010-05/04/2010; National Museum of Art, Osaka, 17/04/2010-27/06/2010

Literature

Renoir - Tradition and Innovation, Osaka and Tokyo, 2010
cat. no. 61
erroneously listed in the catalogue as D.1978.PG.244

Seilern, Count Antoine, Paintings and drawings of Continental Schools other than Flemish and Italian at 56 Princes Gate, London SW7, London 1961; III
no. 245
pl. LXX
dated c. 1895

Vollard, Ambroise, La vie et l'oeuvre de Pierre Auguste Renoir, Paris 1919
ill. on p. 165

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Recto, upper right: shield containing caduceus, flanked by letters "G F" (same mark appears on a Renoir drawing at Harvard, 1959.179, dated 1890s).

Collector's mark: none.

Inscription: Verso: centre, graphite: "48 ½ 32 / 5 5 [sum line] 53 ½ 37 [this crossed through] / ½ / a54 ½ -38 1/2 ”; lower centre, graphite, second line crossed through: “564 / sans pp”; lower left, graphite: “S 121”; left lower edge, graphite, enclosed in a box and crossed through: "2785"; lower right corner, black ink: “B” [possibly a monogram, not found on Lugt].

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