id: 166648 accession number: 2008.368 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.368 updated: 2022-01-04 17:44:15.272000 A Funeral , c. mid-1870s-early 1880s. Jean-Paul Laurens (French, 1838-1921). Charcoal and brush and black and brown ink, with stumping and scratching away; sheet: 40.1 x 29 cm (15 13/16 x 11 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.368 title: A Funeral title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. mid-1870s-early 1880s creation date earliest: 1875 creation date latest: 1885 current location: creditline: Bequest of Muriel Butkin copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: charcoal and brush and black and brown ink, with stumping and scratching away department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Jean-Paul Laurens (French, 1838-1921) - artist --- measurements: Sheet: 40.1 x 29 cm (15 13/16 x 11 7/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: beige wove paper watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: signed, lower right, in black ink: J Paul Laurens; formerly inscribed in graphite at lower right of mount: 132 (mount destroyed) translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin opening date: 2001-08-26T00:00:00 French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * --- PROVENANCE [Galerie de la Scala, Paris, 1979 (according to Shepherd Gallery records)]; [Shepherd Gallery, New York]; purchased in 1979; estate of Muriel Butkin date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: The macabre subject matter of A Funeral is typical of Jean-Paul Laurens, whose interest in depicting cadavers and coffins earned him the nickname "the painter of the dead." Laurens was also attracted to subjects from church history, and, here, the crosier leaning against the door behind the coffin indicates the deceased was a bishop. Highly finished drawings like this one are rare in Laurens's production. His technique of covering the surface with a variety of media and scratching away for highlights is quite similar to the one used by another artist in the exhibition-Alexandre Bida, in his Café at Constantinople [cat. no. 34]. Laurens utilized the technique effectively in this gloomy scene, where the glowing candle flame casts long shadows and feebly illuminates the columns receding into darkness on the left. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Foster, Carter E., Sylvain Bellenger, and Patrick Shaw Cable. French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. page number: Referenced: cat. no. 52, p. 114-115, Reproduced: p. 115 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.368/2008.368_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.368/2008.368_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.368/2008.368_full.tif