id:			166690
accession number:	2008.401
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.401
updated:		2023-08-24 00:29:28.784000

Trissotin Reading to Philaminte, Bélise, and Armande (from act 3, scene 2 of Molière's "Les Femmes Savantes", probably c. 1725–1726. Charles Coypel (French, 1694–1752). Graphite, graphite wash, and red chalk ; sheet: 21.7 x 30.6 cm (8 9/16 x 12 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.401

title:				Trissotin Reading to Philaminte, Bélise, and Armande (from act 3, scene 2 of Molière's "Les Femmes Savantes"
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			probably c. 1725–1726
creation date earliest:		1725
creation date latest:		1726
current location:		
creditline:			Bequest of Muriel Butkin
copyright:			

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culture:	France, 18th century
technique:	graphite, graphite wash, and red chalk 
department:	Drawings
collection:	Drawings
type:		Drawing
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* Charles Coypel (French, 1694–1752)  - artist

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measurements: Sheet: 21.7 x 30.6 cm (8 9/16 x 12 1/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:

	description:	cream laid paper
	watermarks:	

inscriptions:

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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, Cleveland, OH (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

	Baron Dominique-Vivant Denon (see Denon and Duval, Monuments des arts du dessin, 4:293). Marquis Charles de Valori, Paris (Lugt 2500, lower right, in blue ink); [Valori sale ("Mis de V…"), Hôtel Drouot, Paris (25-26 November 1907), no. 38, repr.]. Private collection ("Appartenant à Mlle X…" in 1953 sale cat.); [Paris, Galerie Charpentier (9 June 1953), no. 4, repr.]. [Mr. and Mrs. Diego Suarez sale, William Doyle Galleries, New York (4 February 1976), no. 325 (according to Butkin records)]; purchased in 1976.
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:
The son of Antoine Coypel (whose drawing is on view nearby), Charles Coypel was a playwright as well as an artist, so his understanding of the theater was profound. This is the only known drawing for the series of prints Coypel designed after scenes from famous works by the great playwright Molière (about 1622-1673). For the subject of this drawing, Coypel chose a famous scene from The Learned Ladies, in which the pompous tutor, Trissotin, reads his own work to his pretentious female admirers, Philaminte, Bélise, and Armande, all of whom have been duped by his pseudo-intellectualism. The overly enthusiastic gestures of these women contrast with the quiet dejection of Henrietta at the far right. The sensitive daughter of Philaminte, she is the only one not taken in by Trissotin's pretensions.
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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>. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.
	page number: 	Referenced: cat. no. 6, p. 22-23, Reproduced: p. 23
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.401/2008.401_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.401/2008.401_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.401/2008.401_full.tif