{
"data": {
"id": 144964,
"accession_number": "1970.159",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Figure in Turkish Costume, c. 1856\u20131863. Attributed to Eug\u00e8ne Delacroix (French, 1798\u20131863). Oil on paper, glued to canvas; unframed: 43.2 x 32.4 cm (17 x 12 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Paul and Odette Wurzburger, 1970.159",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Figure in Turkish Costume",
"creation_date": "c. 1856\u20131863",
"creation_date_earliest": 1856,
"creation_date_latest": 1863,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"France, 19th century"
],
"technique": "oil on paper, glued to canvas",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Modern European Painting and Sculpture",
"collection": "Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Unframed: 43.2 x 32.4 cm (17 x 12 3/4 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"unframed": {
"height": 0.432,
"height_inch": 17,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.324,
"width_inch": 12,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.75
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 301391,
"title": "Year in Review: 1970",
"description": "Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971).",
"opening_date": "1971-02-10T05:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "(Possibly artist's estate sale, Feb. 17-29, 1864, H\u00f4tel Drouot, Paris, no. 188)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"In Delacroix\u2019s posthumous sale of 1864, lot 188 consisted of three studies for which no further details are given beyond the vague title, \u201cTrois \u00e9tudes de costumes d\u2019hommes de l\u2019Orient.\u201d Lee Johnson, author of the Delacroix catalogue raisonn\u00e9, however, questions whether the Cleveland sketch is indeed among the three studies in lot 188, and even if it can be proven with certainty that it was one of the three studies, Johnson is doubtful that the Cleveland sketch is an autograph work. He maintains that in spite of the wax monogram \u201cED\u201d on the stretcher and, on the front, a printed label that reads \u201c188\u201d \u2013 he notes could both be fake \u2013 the sketch\u2019s attribution must be called into question unless scientific tests establish the authenticity of its materials and/or its early provenance can be securely documented. It should be noted, however, that the \u201cED\u201d monogram on the Cleveland sketch does much more strongly resemble the example of an authentic seal Johnson presents in his catalogue than the forged examples he illustrates. Because there is no provenance for the sketch prior to its supposed appearance in the 1864 sale, it is possible that it may have been painted by one of Delacroix\u2019s students or another artist and was then erroneously attributed to Delacroix after his death. The \u201cED\u201d seal and sale label may have been added at some point to increase the work\u2019s value and saleability. The only hint of its pre-1864 provenance is a label on the back of the frame that appears to read \u201cAchet\u00e9 1862 165 + Delacroix,\u201d indicating that a transaction, possibly involving Delacroix himself, took place in 1862. The study\u2019s provenance following the 1864 sale, if it indeed appeared in that auction, is also unclear. Different copies of the auction catalogue reveal varying handwritten notations accompanying lot 188. Several copies of the catalogue have an annotation that indicates the prices paid for the three studies: 215, 255, and 155 francs. One annotation indicates that the studies were purchased by \u201cP\u00e9rot, P\u00e9rot [and] Busquet\u201d (or possibly Ringuet, as the handwriting is difficult to discern), respectively, while another lists only Pr\u00e9vost. In his 1885 catalogue of Delacroix\u2019s oeuvre, Alfred Robaut notes that one of the three works was purchased by Muret, but he may have inadvertently confused one of the buyers with that of lot 187, where \u201cMuret\u201d is indeed indicated as one of the buyers, written in directly above Busquet/Ringuet. Johnson has identified two studies (L45 and L46 in his catalogue raisonn\u00e9) as two of the three works comprising lot 188, in part because they both later appeared in the collection of \u201cM. Mercier,\u201d and so likely were purchased by the same buyer at the 1864 sale. Johnson gives Pr\u00e9vost as that buyer, but it is just as likely that the buyer in question was in fact P\u00e9rot. While Robaut reproduces L45 and L46 in his catalogue, the third study, that purchased by Busquet/Ringuet and possibly now at CMA, is not reproduced, making it that more difficult to secure its early provenance. Another clue to the study\u2019s early provenance may be a stencil on the back of the canvas that refers to \u00c9tienne-Fran\u00e7ois Haro\u2019s shop, Au G\u00e9nie des Arts (spelled out in the stencil). Haro studied painting under Delacroix before taking over the shop in the early 1850s, where he worked as a dealer, restorer, and collector. Haro held auctions at the shop, but also acquired works directly from artists and at public auctions. Because Haro not only bought/sold works by contemporary artists, both as a dealer and for himself, but also supplied materials, it is difficult to determine for which type of transaction the Haro stencil was applied to the canvas of the Delacroix, and whether or not Haro figures in the provenance.
"
],
"date": "1864",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Marie-Louise Guinot, to her husband, Georges Aubry",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Johnson wrote in a letter of July 12, 1969 to CMA curator Ann Tzeutschler Lurie that he had \u201cbeen able to turn up in conversation in Paris [the] hearsay evidence that [the] picture was part of a provincial collection that had remained intact since the 19th century\u201d until it came up for auction in 1967. It is possible that Guinot was the owner of this \u201cprovincial\u201d collection, and that the painting had been in her family since the nineteenth century.
"
],
"date": "Probably until 1926",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Georges Aubry, Paris",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"According to documents found in Aubry\u2019s country house, he owned the painting by 1926, but by around 1930, it was no longer in his possession.
"
],
"date": "By 1926 - c. 1930",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "(Sale, H\u00f4tel Drouot, Paris, March 6-7, 1967, no. 7, sold to Claude Aubry)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Dealer Claude Aubry, son of Georges Aubry, purchased the Delacroix sketch at this auction at the request of his father, who noticed that it was on the market.
"
],
"date": "1967",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "(Claude Aubry, Paris, sold to Paul and Odette Wurzburger)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1967-",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "Paul [1904-1976] and Odette [1909-2006] Wurzburger, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "Until 1970",
"sortorder": 6
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1970-",
"sortorder": 7
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [
"1434.68"
],
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"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60470762"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1970.159-figure-in-turkish-co"
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"citations": [
{
"citation": "Bortolatto, Luigina Rossi. Tout l'\u0153uvre peint de Delacroix. Paris: Flammarion, 1975.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Johnson, Lee. The Paintings of Eugene Delacroix A Critical Catalogue. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "d'Argencourt, Louise, Roger Diederen, and Alisa Luxenberg. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Johnson, Lee. The Paintings of Eugene Delacroix A Critical Catalogue. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Claude Aubry, letter to Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, May 29, 1972, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Claude Aubry, letter to Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, May 29, 1972, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "H\u00f4tel Drouot. Tableaux modernes, tableaux anciens\u2026.March 6-7, 1967.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Claude Aubry, letter to Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, May 29, 1972, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Claude Aubry, letter to Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, Dec. 8, 1969, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, letter to Lee Johnson, April 13, 1970, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Claude Aubry, letter to Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, Dec. 8, 1969, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Ho\u0302tel Drouot. Catalogue de la vente qui aura lieu par suite du de\u0301ces de Euge\u0300ne Delacroix. Feb. 17-29, 1864",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Johnson, Lee. The Paintings of Eugene Delacroix A Critical Catalogue. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "d'Argencourt, Louise, Roger Diederen, and Alisa Luxenberg. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Bernard, Camille. \u201cSome Aspects of Delacroix\u2019s Orientalism.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 58, no. 4 (April 1971): 123\u2013127.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 123-124, fig. 1",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152374"
},
{
"citation": "Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 231-233, Vol. I, no. 83",
"url": ""
}
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"creditline": "Gift of Paul and Odette Wurzburger",
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{
"id": 1658,
"description": "Eug\u00e8ne Delacroix (French, 1798\u20131863)",
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"role": "artist",
"biography": "Eug\u00e8ne Delacroix studied under history painter Pierre-Narcisse Gu\u00e9rin (1774-1833) and at the \u00c9cole des Beaux-Arts, though he did not succeed in competitions there. He soon befriended romantic painter Th\u00e9odore G\u00e9ricault (1791-1824) and exhibited at his first Salon in 1822 his powerful, moody The Barque of Dante (Mus\u00e9e du Louvre, Paris). In the next Salon, inspired by the recent events in the Greeks' struggle for independence against the Turks, Delacroix showed Scenes from the Massacres at Chios (Mus\u00e9e du Louvre, Paris), a painting whose anti-academic composition, free brushwork, and brilliant color caused hostile critics to accuse the artist of the \"massacre of painting.\" Nevertheless, he was awarded a Salon medal and the state purchased the picture. \r\nAfter the early death of G\u00e9ricault, the young artist became the titular head of the French romantic artistic movement, as much for his innovative technique as his new themes. Widely read and an Anglophile, Delacroix drew frequently from British literature, especially Shakespeare, Byron, and Sir Walter Scott. He also developed a strong interest in orientalist subjects, spurred by the five-month trip to Morocco and southern Spain he took in 1832. He stressed the creative and imaginative elements of painting and opposed the academy for its rote learning and the bourgeoisie for its overly materialistic interests. Delacroix discussed his aesthetic ideas with an ever-expanding circle of writers, musicians, and artists that he frequented, including pianist-composer Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Chopin and writer George Sand. But ultimately he developed a personal conception of beauty that could only be expressed in an individualized manner. \r\nRecent studies have revised the long-standing interpretation of Delacroix as a radical, anticlassical, misunderstood, and unsupported genius. He greatly admired antiquity and the classical authors but insisted on avoiding the narrow or didactic view of them offered by the academies. He may not have emulated classical statuary as sources for his figures, but he did often represent heroic nude figures. For all his insistence on invention, Delacroix retained some sense of documentary reconstruction, for he made numerous studies of costumes and weapons and did other kinds of research before tackling certain subjects. From the beginning and throughout his career, Delacroix received many religious and historical painting commissions, from provincial churches to government buildings, under different rulers and even political systems. His allegorical work Liberty Leading the Barricades (1830-31, Mus\u00e9e du Louvre, Paris) represents the only painting in which the artist referred to a contemporary political event in France, the revolution that overthrew Louis XVIII and the Bourbon monarchy. This, too, was purchased by the state. In 1833 he was asked to decorate with allegories the Salon du Roi of the Palais Bourbon, the seat of the deputies. Their success brought him additional commissions in the same building, such as the library (1838), and then the library in the senate (1841-46), housed in the Palais du Luxembourg. His historical, religious, and allegorical paintings were often criticized by more conservative critics for a lack of decorum, anatomical distortions, too-bright or unnaturalistic color, and free brushwork, but he continued to find work because he was one of the few artists who continued to explore these \"elevated\" genres and had a sure sense of the decorative. \r\nExtremely prolific, Delacroix accomplished a major mural commission for the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris (1850-63) the year before his death. He was even elected in 1857 to the Acad\u00e9mie des Beaux-Arts, but younger artists consistently regarded him as antiestablishment and a paragon of artistic experimentation. He wrote extensively on art and aesthetic issues, both in his private diaries and for published journals.1\r\n1. Recently, scholars such as Michele Hannoosh, Painting and the Journal of Eugene Delacroix (Princeton, 1995), have examined the content and style of Delacroix's texts for what they might tell about Delacroix the writer as well as the work and creative process of Delacroix the artist.\r\nDelacroix was one of the most innovative and successful painters of the first half of the 19th century. He is known as the last great history painter and his art is the ideal of Romanticism in the visual arts. Delacroix's career is marked by the paradox between the revolutionary and the conventional. He was in conflict with the artist Ingres and was seen as the leading figure of the French Romantic movement; he was famed for undermining the tradition of painting established by David, yet he benefited from official patronage from the beginning of the Restoration (1814-1830) until the Second Empire (1852-1870).",
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"sortable_date": 1856,
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"updated_at": "2026-08-03 14:18:08.896000"
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}