Art Institute of ChicagoPublic domain

Mère Grégoire

Gustave Courbet · 1855, reworked 1857–59

Provenance

Ownership history

Possession of the artist [for this and the following until 1873 see Riat 1906 and Fernier 1977]; stolen between 1872–73; found by Étienne Baudry at an art dealer in Paris, 1873. Galerie Barbzanges, Paris, by 1912 [Saint Petersburg 1912]. Possibly Alexandre Louis Philippe Marie Berthier, 4th Prince of Wagram (died 1918), Paris [according to Art Institute of Chicago 1961 and Fernier 1977]; possibly at his death to his sister, Elisabeth de la Tour d’Auvergne (née Elisabeth Bertier de Wagram), Paris (according to Art Institute of Chicago 1961 and Fernier 1977). Alex Reid & Lefèvre, Ltd., London, by 1929 [according to the receipt of sale to the Art Institute, dated November 20, 1929]; purchased by the Art Institute, 1929; accessioned 1930.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

Paris, Rond-Point de l’Alma, Exposition des œuvres de M. G. Courbet, 1867, cat. 96.
Saint-Petersburg, Exposition centennale de l’art français à Saint-Petersbourg, 1912, cat. 347.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1–November 1, 1933, cat. 237.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1–November 1, 1934, cat. 176.
Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum, 43 Portraits, January 26–February 10, 1937, cat. 37.
Toledo Museum of Art, The Spirit of Modern France: An Essay on Painting in Society, 1745–1946, November–December 1946, cat. 26; traveled to Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, January–February 1947.
Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Gustave Courbet (1819–1877), September 30, 1977–January 2, 1978, cat. 45; traveled to London, Royal Academy of Art, January 18–March 19, 1978, cat. 43.
Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, European Portraits, 1600–1900 in the Art Institute of Chicago, July 8–September 11, 1978, cat. 16.
New York, Brooklyn Museum, Courbet Reconsidered, November 4, 1988–January 16, 1989, cat. 29; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, February 18–April 30, 1989.
Munich, Haus der Kunst, Corot, Courbet und die Maler von Barbizon: Les amis de la nature, cat. B 34, February 2–April 21, 1996.
Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Gustave Courbet, October 13, 2007–January 28, 2008, cat. 39; traveled to New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 27–May 18, 2008; Montpellier, Musée Fabre, June 14–September 28, 2008.
Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Splendour and Misery, Images of prostitution in France, 1850-1910 < Splendeurs & misères, Images de la prostitution, 1850-1910> September 21, 2015-June 19, 2016; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, same exhibition but title " Easy Virtue. Prostitution in French Art, 1850-1910, February 19, 2016-June 19, 2016.

Literature

Published references

Théophile Silvestre, Histoire des artistes vivants français et étrangers: Études d’après nature (Paris: E. Blanchard, 1857), pp. 273, 278.
Zacharie Astruc, Les 14 stations du salon de 1859: suivies d’un récit douloureux (Paris: Poulet-Malassis et De Broise, 1859), pp. 392–93.
Théophile Silvestre, Les artistes français: Études d’après nature (Brussels: Office de Publicité, 1861), p. 68.
Alexandre Schanne, Souvenirs de Schaunard (Paris: Charpentier, 1887), pp. 295–96.
Alexandre Estignard, Courbet: sa vie, ses oeuvres (Besançon: Delagrange-Louys, 1896), p. 181.
Georges Riat, Gustave Courbet: peintre, Les Maîtres de l’art moderne (Paris: H. Floury, 1906), pp. 54, 173, 254, 333, 366.
Charles Léger, Courbet, selon les caricatures et les images (Paris: P. Rosenberg, 1920), p. 69.
Marc Elder, À Giverny chez Claude Monet (Paris: Bernheim-Jeune, 1924), p. 28.
Charles Léger, Courbet, Maîtres d’autrefois (Paris: G. Crès et cie, 1929), pp. 41–42.
Creative Art, 6, 1 (1930), p. 17 (ill.).
Daniel Catton Rich, “‘Mère Grégoire’ by Courbet,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 24, 4 (1930), cover (ill.), pp. 42–43.
“Chicago Obtains Courbet’s Mère Grégoire,” The Art Digest 4, 14 (1930), pp. 5 (ill.), 6.

Comparables