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Portrait of Thadée Natanson

Édouard Vuillard

European Art

This painting portrays Thadée Natanson, Vuillard’s first and most important patron and the publisher of La Revue Blanche, the most noted avant-garde French periodical in the 1890s. The work typifies the artist’s oeuvre of this period in its concentration on a single meditative figure in the familiar setting of the home interior. Though Vuillard produces a clearly recognizable portrait, he focuses primarily on the mood and personality of the sitter. With eyes downcast, Natanson projects the inner contemplation at the heart of French Symbolism.
MEDIUM Oil on cardboard mounted on panel
  • Place Made: France
  • DATES 1897
    DIMENSIONS 20 5/8 × 15 1/2 in. (52.4 × 39.4 cm) frame: 29 × 24 × 3 1/2 in. (73.7 × 61 × 8.9 cm)  (show scale)
    SIGNATURE Signed upper right: "E. Vuillard"
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 2005.23
    CREDIT LINE Gift of William Kelly Simpson in honor of Nathan Todd Porter, Jr.
    PROVENANCE Prior to 1899, acquired from the artist by Thadée Natanson of Paris, France; June 13, 1908, purchased at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Thadée Natanson sale lot 45, by André Gide of Paris; between April 1909 and 1954, provenance not yet documented; by March 30, 1954, acquired by Albert Charpentier of Paris; March 30, 1954, sold at Galerie Charpentier, Paris, Collection du Dr. Albert Charpentier lot 32; between 1954 and 1958, provenance not yet documented; before 1958, possibly acquired by Paul Rosenberg of Paris, France and New York, NY; by April 1958, acquired by Walter Bareiss of Greenwich, CT; between 1965 and 1983, provenance not yet documented; November 16, 1983, sold at Sotheby's, New York, lot 27A; between 1983 and 1988, provenance not yet documented; January 8, 1988, purchased from Lafayette Parke Gallery by William Kelly Simpson of Katonah, NY; June 6, 2005, gift of William Kelly Simpson to the Brooklyn Museum.
    Provenance FAQ
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Édouard Vuillard (French, 1868-1940). Portrait of Thadée Natanson, 1897. Oil on cardboard mounted on panel, 20 5/8 × 15 1/2 in. (52.4 × 39.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of William Kelly Simpson in honor of Nathan Todd Porter, Jr., 2005.23. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2005.23_PS6.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 2005.23_PS6.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2012
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