id: 155871 accession number: 1991.173 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1991.173 updated: 2019-04-22 12:30:30.572000 A Eunuch's Dream, 1874. Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ (French, 1842-1923). Oil on wood; framed: 54 x 74.5 x 5.5 cm (21 1/4 x 29 5/16 x 2 3/16 in.); unframed: 39.3 x 65.4 cm (15 1/2 x 25 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Mrs. Noah L. Butkin 1991.173 title: A Eunuch's Dream title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1874 creation date earliest: 1874 creation date latest: 1874 current location: 219 19th Century European creditline: Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Mrs. Noah L. Butkin copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: oil on wood department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960 type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ (French, 1842-1923) - artist Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ was the descendant of a noble Piedmontese family that settled in France in the fourteenth century. In 1861, at age nineteen, he entered the studio of Charles Gleyre (1808-1874) and two years later trained under the guidance of Émile Signol (1804-1892). With his fascination for historical and exotic subjects in mind, Lecomte du Nouÿ entered the studio of Gérôme (q.v.) in 1864. Lecomte du Nouÿ began exhibiting at the Salon in 1863 and received his first critical approval two years later for Le sentinel grec (1865), based on the tragedy Oresteia (458 BC) by Aeschylus. One year later he won a gold medal for another classical subject, Invocation de Neptune (1866, Musée des Beaux Arts, Lille), which exempted him from jury approval for future Salons. In 1865 Gérôme encouraged him to join Félix Clément (1826-1888) on a trip to Egypt, as the latter had received a commission to decorate the Choubrah Palace of Prince Halim near Cairo. The Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) meant hardship for many artists, including Lecomte du Nouÿ who struggled to get by without commissions. In 1872 he won the Second Prix de Rome and received a good deal of attention at the Salon with Les porteurs de mauvaises nouvelles (Ministère de Affaires Culturelles, Tunis), which was bought by the state for the Musée du Luxembourg. That same year the French government asked him to go to Venice to copy The Marriage of St. Ursula by Carpaccio for the École des Beaux-Arts. Three years later he painted an altarpiece for the chapel of St.-Vincent-de-Paul in the church of La Trinité in Paris. He traveled throughout his life and, in 1875, embarked on an extensive voyage to Greece, Egypt, Turkey, and Asia Minor. Twenty years later, on his way to Constantinople, he stopped in Bucharest in order to visit his brother, André Lecomte du Nouÿ (1844-1914), who was a court architect. He ended up staying several years, as he received commissions for portraits of members of the royal family and frescoes in Romanian churches. Throughout his career, Lecomte du Nouÿ painted many religious and history paintings; he was also a prolific portraitist and sculptor. In 1875 he married Mlle Peigné-Crémieux, who died soon afterward; in 1891 he married Caroline Evrard. --- measurements: Framed: 54 x 74.5 x 5.5 cm (21 1/4 x 29 5/16 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 39.3 x 65.4 cm (15 1/2 x 25 3/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Signed center left: Lecomte du Nouÿ / 1874 translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Signs of Affection: Gifts Honoring the Museum's 75th Anniversary opening date: 1992-10-27T04:00:00 Signs of Affection: Gifts Honoring the Museum's 75th Anniversary. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27, 1992-January 3, 1993). title: From Homer to the Harem: The Art of Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ opening date: 2004-06-22T00:00:00 From Homer to the Harem: The Art of Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ. Dahesh Museum of Art (organizer) (June 22-September 19, 2004). title: European Orientalists: From Delacroix to Kandinsky opening date: 2010-10-15T00:00:00 European Orientalists: From Delacroix to Kandinsky. Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium (October 15, 2010-January 9, 2011); Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung (organizer) (January 29-May 1, 2011); Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille (May 20-August 21, 2011). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, N.Y.; Neuberger Museum, State University of New York, College at Purchase. Orientalism: The Near East in French Painting 1800-1880 (1982), no. 55, 81 (repr.), 83.
Dahesh Museum of Art (6/22/2004 - 9/19/2004): "From Homer to the Harem: The Art of Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ"
Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (10/15/2010 - 1/9/2011), Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung [organizer] (1/29/2011 - 5/1/2011), and Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille (5/20/2011 - 8/21/2011): "European Orientalists: From Delacroix to Kandinsky", ex. cat. no. 148, p. 181. --- PROVENANCE (Sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, April 28, 1977, lot 209, possibly sold to Noah L. and Muriel Butkin) date: 1977 footnotes: * The consignor to this auction is not specified in the catalogue, which lists the Lecomte de Nouÿ under the “property of various owners.” The catalogue does not include a price list, but the Butkins made many purchases around this time, so it is possible that they were the buyers of the painting at this sale. The earlier provenance of this painting is unclear. A painting by Lecomte de Nouÿ entitled “Le Kieff du Schériff (Souvenir d'Orient)” appeared in the Hôtel Drouot sale of the “F.J.” collection on March 23, 1877 (no. 37). However, it seems unlikely that this painting is the Cleveland picture, because while the description provided in the catalogue of the man in the painting matches that of the Cleveland picture, the female figure, so important to the composition, is not mentioned. Furthermore, another version of this composition (see Roger Diederen, From Homer to the Harem: The Art of Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ, no. 86) but without the female figure or knife-wielding cherub, appears in Montgailhard’s 1906 monograph on Lecomte du Nouÿ under the title “Le kief du Schériff.” This painting’s current location is unknown. What we do know is that the Cleveland painting was likely intended by the artist for direct sale to a private collector: the painting’s content – more graphic than that of the other versions of the composition - may have been considered inappropriate for public display. citations: * Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc. 19th Century European Paintings. April 28, 1977. page number: url: * Diederen, Roger. From Homer to the Harem: The Art of Jean Lecomte Du Nouÿ. New York: Dahesh Museum of Art, 2004. page number: url: (Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin, Cleveland, Ohio, given by Muriel S. Butkin to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: Possibly 1977-1991 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio date: 1991- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Much of Jean Lecomte du Nouÿ's artwork was inspired by travelling to Egypt as a young man. digital description: wall description: This painting, inspired by Charles Montesquieu's Persian Letters (published in 1721), depicts a eunuch who wanted to marry a harem slave. He experienced a vision of her while smoking his opium pipe, but her little companion holding a knife dripping with blood reminds us that the eunuch's anatomy precludes the fulfillment of his dream. The outline of a hand next to the signature is a khamsa, a symbol used to ward off evil. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Bergez, Daniel. Peindre le rêve: des rêves bibliques au surréalisme.
Paris : Citadelles & Mazenod, 2017. page number: Reproduced and mentioned: p. 110. url: Watson, A.M. "Paul Durand-Ruel and James Duncan of Benmore." The Burlington Magazine 160, no.1384(July 2018): 558-571. page number: Reproduced: p. 564, fig. 10 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.173/1991.173_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.173/1991.173_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.173/1991.173_full.tif