id: 107008 accession number: 1925.1005 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1925.1005 updated: 2023-03-20 14:14:01.123000 The Presentation in the Temple, c. 1770. François Boucher (French, 1703–1770). Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, and black chalk, heightened with white paint; framing lines in pen and brown ink; sheet: 32.3 x 20 cm (12 11/16 x 7 7/8 in.); framed: 66 x 50.9 x 6.4 cm (26 x 20 1/16 x 2 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. 1925.1005 title: The Presentation in the Temple title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1770 creation date earliest: 1765 creation date latest: 1775 current location: creditline: Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. copyright: --- culture: France, 18th century technique: pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, and black chalk, heightened with white paint; framing lines in pen and brown ink department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: Michel 819; Ananoff 651 --- CREATORS * François Boucher (French, 1703–1770) - artist French Rococo artist who epitomizes the frivolous and elegant court life of France in the mid-18th century. During his early career he was closely associated with Watteau, many of whose paintings he engraved. Boucher was a successful and incredibly prolific artistic who had a major impact on both fine and decorative art of the 18th century. He is particularly noted for having reinvented the genre of the pastoral, creating images of shepherds and shepherdesses as sentimental lovers that was taken up in a variety of medium. Boucher's sketchy manner of painting helped to promote painterliness as an end in itself. This trend dominated French painting until the emergence of Neoclassicism, when the tides of criticism turned against Boucher and his followers. --- measurements: Sheet: 32.3 x 20 cm (12 11/16 x 7 7/8 in.); Framed: 66 x 50.9 x 6.4 cm (26 x 20 1/16 x 2 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: cream(3) laid paper watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: verso, center, in graphite: G; lower left, in graphite: Lest R./-oc-. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Drawings in the Classic and Romantic Tradition before 1830 opening date: 1932-12-07T05:00:00 Drawings in the Classic and Romantic Tradition before 1830. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 7, 1932-January 11, 1933). title: Art of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries opening date: 1934-11-09T05:00:00 Art of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9-December 2, 1934). title: Old Master Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1939-01-04T05:00:00 Old Master Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 4-March 26, 1939). title: Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1942-06-17T04:00:00 Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 17-August 24, 1942). title: Eighteenth Century Masterpieces opening date: 1952-12-12T05:00:00 Eighteenth Century Masterpieces. Society of the Four Arts (organizer) (December 12, 1952-January 4, 1953). title: Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition opening date: 1958-03-03T05:00:00 Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959). title: French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse opening date: 1958-07-31T04:00:00 French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands (July 31-September 28, 1958); Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, France (October 24, 1958-January 2, 1959); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (February 3-March 15, 1959). title: Italian and French Drawings opening date: 1959-10-13T04:00:00 Italian and French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 1959-February 2, 1960). title: Aspects of Drawing opening date: 1961-01-10T05:00:00 Aspects of Drawing. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 10-April 2, 1961). title: Drawings opening date: 1963-01-11T05:00:00 Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963). title: Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands opening date: 1965-01-01T05:00:00 Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 1-March 24, 1965). title: Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection opening date: 1965-05-06T04:00:00 Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 6-September 9, 1965). title: Drawings opening date: 1968-06-11T04:00:00 Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968). title: François Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings opening date: 1973-12-23T05:00:00 François Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (December 23, 1973-March 15, 1974); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (April 1-May 20, 1974). title: Seventeenth-, Eighteenth-, and Early Nineteenth-Century Genre and French Prints and Drawings opening date: 1979-05-31T04:00:00 Seventeenth-, Eighteenth-, and Early Nineteenth-Century Genre and French Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 31-August 19, 1979). title: 18th Century Master Drawings opening date: 1981-10-06T04:00:00 18th Century Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 6-November 22, 1981). title: French Prints and Drawings in the Age of the Bourbons, 1589-1792 opening date: 1982-02-02T05:00:00 French Prints and Drawings in the Age of the Bourbons, 1589-1792. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 2-May 16, 1982). title: Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1982-11-16T05:00:00 Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1982-January 9, 1983). title: I and Thou opening date: 1984-02-21T05:00:00 I and Thou. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 21-May 27, 1984). title: French Drawings from the Collection opening date: 1994-12-13T05:00:00 French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995). title: Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2000-08-27T00:00:00 Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). title: The Drawings of François Boucher opening date: 2003-10-24T00:00:00 The Drawings of François Boucher. Frick Collection, New York, NY (October 24-December 14, 2003). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * The French Eighteenth Century: Drawings Coming From the J. P. Heseltine Collection. E. Gimpel & Wildenstein, New York (March 21 - April 16, 1914). --- PROVENANCE Probably Barthélemy-Augustin Blondel d'Azincourt [1719-1783], Paris date: ?-1770 footnotes: citations: (Paris, Cabinet curieux...de M. d'Azincourt, April 18, 1770, no. 61, sold to Chariot) date: 1770 footnotes: *
As "Une Présentation au Temple: dessein très spirituel, à la plume, par M. Boucher: hauteur 11 pouces 3 lignes, largeur 7 pouces 3 lignes." Sold to Chariot for 58.19 livres, according to annotated catalogue in Rijksbureau voor kunsthistorische en ikonografische Documentatie, The Hague.
citations: M. Chariot, Paris date: 1770-1788 footnotes: citations: (possibly Hotel de Bullion, Paris, Collection choisie...du Cabinet de M. Chariot, January 28, 1788, no. 128, sold to Pierre-François Basan) date: 1788 footnotes: *
 "La Présentation au Temple, très-beau dessin à la plume, lavé de bistre & de sanguine, dans le stile de Rembrandt. Hauteur 14 pouces, largeur 10 pou. De la vente de M. Baudoin, Peintre" Sold for 34 livres, according to annotated copy of catalogue in library of the Institut de France, Paris.
citations: Possibly Pierre-François Basan [1723-1797], Paris date: 1788-? footnotes: citations: Jan Baptist de Graaf [1742-1804; Lugt 1120], Amsterdam date: ?-? footnotes: citations: Possibly Eugénie Tripier-LeFranc [1805-1872], Paris date: ?-1883 footnotes: citations: (Paris, Tripier-LeFranc sale, June 5-7, 1883, no. 45) date: 1883 footnotes: *
As "La Presentation au Temple. Plume et sepia."
citations: John Postle Heseltine [1843-1929; Lugt 1507], London date: by 1900-after 1914 footnotes: citations: (Richard Owen, Paris) date: ?-? footnotes: citations: Leonard C. Hanna Jr., Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: ?-1925 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1925- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: This drawing was probably a sketch for an oil painting that Boucher was unable to complete before his death. digital description: Late in his career, François Boucher adopted a drawing style characterized by strong pen lines and loosely brushed washes. This sheet, which dates from that period, depicts the blind priest Simeon, at left, who was promised that he would see the Messiah before his death. When the Christ child was brought into the temple near him, Simeon regained his sight. Boucher emphasized the miraculous event by showing divine light streaming down onto the priest from the dove above, which represents the Holy Spirit. The drawing is similar to an oil sketch (Louvre, Paris) that Boucher completed during the last year of his life -- one of the very last projects he ever completed. wall description: This powerful religious subject by Boucher is one of the masterpieces of his late drawing style. Combining strong pen lines with loosely brushed washes, it is similar to an oil sketch (Louvre, Paris) that Boucher executed the last year of his life. The blind priest Simeon, whom we see on the left, was promised the sight of the Messiah before his death. When the infant Jesus was brought into the temple, Simeon regained his sight. Boucher emphasized this moment with the divine light streaming down onto the priest from the dove of the Holy Spirit above. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Catalogue d'une collection choisie de tableaux originaux et dessins précieux des trois écoles...du cabinet de M. Chariot. Paris: Paillet, 1788. page number: Possibly mentioned: no. 128 url: Heseltine, J[ohn] P[ostle]. Drawings by François Boucher, Jean Honoré Fragonard, and Antoine Watteau in the Collection of J[ohn] P[ostle] H[eseltine]. London: Autotype Company, 1900. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: no. 16 url: Michel, André. François Boucher. Paris: H. Piazza, 1906. page number: Mentioned: p. 45, no. 819 url: Heseltine, J[ohn] P[ostle] and Lucien Guiraud. Dessins de l'école française du dix-huitième siècle provenant de la collectoin H[eseltine]. Paris: Frazier-Soye, 1913. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: no. 4 url: The French Eighteenth Century: Drawings Coming from the J.P. Heseltine Collection. Exh. Cat. New York: E. Gimpel & Wildenstein, 1914. page number: Mentioned: no. 4 url: Sizer, Theodore. "Drawings by Boucher and Fragonard." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 13, no. 1 (January 1926): 5-8. page number: Mentioned: pp. 5-7 url: Eighteenth Century Masterpieces. Exh. Cat. Palm Beach, FL: Society of the Four Arts, 1952. page number: Mentioned: no. 16 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 593 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n111 Houghton, Amory and Jacqueline Bouchot Saupique. Les Dessins français dans les collections américaines, de Clouet à Matisse. Paris: Art et Style, 1958. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: n.p. url: French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse. Exh. Cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1959. (also published in French and Dutch) page number: Mentioned and reproduced: no. 37 url: Ananoff, Alexandre. L'Oeuvre dessiné de François Boucher (1703-1770): catalogue raisonné. Paris: F. de Nobele, 1966 page number: Mentioned: p. 175, no. 651 url: Sérullaz, Maurice. Great Drawings of the Louvre Museum: The French Drawings. New York: George Braziller, 1968. page number: Mentioned: under no. 50 url: François Boucher, gravures et dessins provenant du Cabinet des Dessins et de la Collection Edmond de Rothschild au Musée du Louvre. Exh. Cat. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1971. page number: Mentioned: p. 104 url: Rosenberg, Pierre. French Master Drawings of the 17th & 18th Centuries in North American Collections. Translated by Catherine Johnston. Exh. Cat. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1972. page number: Mentioned: p. 138, under no. 14 url: Slatkin, Regina Shoolman. François Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings. Exh. Cat. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1973. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: no. 99 url: Ananoff, Alexandre. François Boucher. Lausanne: La Bibliothèque des Arts, 1976. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 311, under no. 686 url: Ananoff, Alexandre and Daniel Wildenstein. L'opera completa di Boucher. Milan: Rizzoli, 1980. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 143, under no. 724 url: DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. page number: Mentioned: p. 3, p. 7, pp. 104-105, 288, no. 38; Reproduced: p. 105 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1925.1005/1925.1005_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1925.1005/1925.1005_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1925.1005/1925.1005_full.tif