id: 156420 accession number: 1992.2 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1992.2 updated: 2025-07-09 11:08:22.270000 Hermes Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus, c. 1670. Gerard de Lairesse (Flemish, 1641–1711). Oil on canvas; framed: 118.5 x 140 x 9 cm (46 5/8 x 55 1/8 x 3 9/16 in.); unframed: 91.4 x 113.7 cm (36 x 44 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1992.2 title: Hermes Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1670 creation date earliest: 1665 creation date latest: 1675 current location: 215 French, German, and Dutch creditline: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund copyright: --- culture: Netherlands technique: oil on canvas department: European Painting and Sculpture collection: P - Netherlandish-Dutch type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Gerard de Lairesse (Flemish, 1641–1711) - artist --- measurements: Framed: 118.5 x 140 x 9 cm (46 5/8 x 55 1/8 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 91.4 x 113.7 cm (36 x 44 3/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Selected Acquisitions opening date: 1993-02-09T05:00:00 Selected Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 9-April 11, 1993). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'Exhib.: CMA 1993: "Selected Acquisitions," Bull., 80 (Feb., 1993), p. 55, repr.', 'opening_date': '1993-02-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'MFA Boston, 1993: "The Age of Rubens," cat. no. 132, repr. (also to: Toledo (OH), Museum of Art)', 'opening_date': '1993-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': "Approved: Trustees' Minutes 12/7/1992", 'opening_date': '1992-12-07T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Selected Acquisitions, CMA, January 28-April 26, 1992: (The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art, February 1993, cat. no. 23, repr.)', 'opening_date': '1992-01-28T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'The Age of Rubens, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, September 22, 1993-January 2, 1994; Toledo Museum of Art, February 2-April 24, 1994:cat. no. 132, repr.', 'opening_date': '1994-02-02T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE Thomas Wodehouse Legh, 2nd Baron Newton [1857-1942], Cheshire, upon his death, probably held in trust by the estate date: Until 1946 footnotes: *
The 1946 Sotheby’s auction catalogue includes this painting as part of the property of the “Rt. Hon. Lord Newton.” The Right Honourable Lord Newton was Thomas Wodehouse Legh, who died in 1942 [b. 1857].  His oldest son, Richard Legh, presented Lyme Park, the family’s estate, to the National Trust in 1946, and in October of that year, a portion of the library at Lyme Park was sold at auction.  Therefore, it is not unreasonable to think that he may also have sold paintings from his father’s collection at auction that same year. 
citations: (Sale, Sotheby’s London, July 17, 1946, lot 63, sold to Julius Singer)1 date: 1946 footnotes: *
The auction catalogue attributes the painting to [Jacques] Blanchard and titles it “Mars and Venus.” However, the dimensions are the same as those of the CMA painting, and Johnny van Haeften did identify the two paintings as one and the same, in terms of both their compositions and provenances.
citations: (Julius Singer, London, probably sold to a Rio de Janeiro private collector) date: 1946- footnotes: *
The price list inserted into the Sotheby’s sale catalogue identifies the buyer of the painting as “Singer,” and Johnny van Haeften situated the painting with a “J. Singer” prior to the Rio de Janeiro collector.  The file on the painting in the RKD image database identifies him as Julius Singer, an art dealer in London.
citations: Private collection, Rio de Janeiro date: Until 1991 footnotes: citations: (Christie’s, New York, sale, Oct. 9, 1991, lot 195, sold to Johnny van Haeften, Ltd.) date: 1991 footnotes: citations: (Johnny van Haeften, Ltd., London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: 1991-1992 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio date: 1992- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Johnny van Haeften, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 16, 2014, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Johnny van Haeften, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 16, 2014, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Jeff Pilkington, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 3, 2013, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Christie, Manson & Woods International Inc. Old Master Paintings. New York: Christie, Manson & Woods International Inc, 1991. page number: url: Jeff Pilkington, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 3, 2013, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Sotheby's (Firm). Fine Pictures and Drawings. 1946. page number: url: "RKD Images," Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images#query=, accessed March 23, 2015. page number: url: Sotheby's (Firm). Fine Pictures and Drawings. 1946. page number: url: Sotheby's (Firm). Fine Pictures and Drawings. 1946. page number: url: Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1992." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (1993): 38-79. page number: Reproduced: p. 55; Mentioned: p. 66 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161388 Franklin, David. The Cleveland Museum of Art. London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd., 2012. page number: Reproduced: p. 44 - 45 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1992.2/1992.2_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1992.2/1992.2_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1992.2/1992.2_full.tif