id:			166638
accession number:	2008.359
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.359
updated:		2022-09-22 10:51:31.458000

Notre-Dame de Paris, c. 1881. Luc-Olivier Merson (French, 1846–1920). Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, black and white gouache, and graphite; sheet: 32.6 x 21.7 cm (12 13/16 x 8 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.359

title:				Notre-Dame de Paris
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			c. 1881
creation date earliest:		1876
creation date latest:		1886
current location:		
creditline:			Bequest of Muriel Butkin
copyright:			

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culture:	France, 19th century
technique:	pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, black and white gouache, and graphite
department:	Drawings
collection:	Drawings
type:		Drawing
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* Luc-Olivier Merson (French, 1846–1920)  - artist

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measurements: Sheet: 32.6 x 21.7 cm (12 13/16 x 8 9/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:

	description:	light brown wove paper (a multi-ply board)
	watermarks:	

inscriptions:

	inscription:	signed, lower right, in black ink: Luc Olivier Merson; verso, lower center, in graphite: [S Fauti?] J [Dumoni?] 4; lower center, in graphite: [torchon?] / [illegible] Bristol blanc style ancien; lower center, in graphite: 56 - 42 Cadre
	translation:	
	remark:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin
	opening date:   2001-08-26T00:00:00
	<i>French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* 

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PROVENANCE

	(sale, Hôtel Georges V, Paris, June 25, 1975, no. 106)
	date: 1975
	footnotes: 	
			
			* As <em>Les Tours de Notre-Dame</em>.
			
			
	citations: 	


	(sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, May 14, 1976, no. 263, sold to Muriel Butkin, Shaker Heights, OH)
	date: 1976
	footnotes: 	
			
			* As <em>Gargoyles and Ravens.</em>
			
			
	citations: 	


	Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 1976-2008
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 2008-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact: 
After creating this drawing, Luc-Olivier Merson went on to illustrate an important 1889 edition of <em>Notre-Dame de Paris</em>, one of the major projects of his career.

digital description: 
Victor Hugo's celebrated 1831 novel <em>Notre-Dame de Paris </em>tells the story of Quasimodo, a disfigured orphan raised by the archdeacon of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Hugo's novel became an important influence on many artists and helped to define a poetic view of the medieval period and of Gothic architecture that lasted well into the second half of the century. This drawing by Luc-Olivier Merson was reproduced as a wood engraving in an illustrated tribute to Hugo published in 1881.

wall description: 
Victor Hugo's celebrated 1831 novel Notre-Dame de Paris tells the story of the grotesque and deformed Quasimodo, an orphan raised by Claude Frollo, the archdeacon of the church of Notre Dame in Paris. Hugo's novel became an important influence on many artists and helped to define a poetic view of the medieval period and of Gothic architecture that lasted well into the second half of the century. The sheet's imagery brings to mind a passage from the text: "The transept belfry and the two towers were to him three great cages, the birds in which, taught by him, would sing for him alone."
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Foster, Carter E., Sylvain Bellenger, and Patrick Shaw Cable. <em>French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin</em>. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.
	page number: 	Mentioned: pp. 122-23, 143-44, no. 56; Reproduced: p. 123
	url:		

	<em>Dessins et aquarelles du XIXe siècle. </em>Paris: Galerie La Nouvelle Athènes, 2021.
	page number: 	Reproduced: under no. 42
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.359/2008.359_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.359/2008.359_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.359/2008.359_full.tif