Creative Commons License
Frontispiece for Bonvin Album
(18th and 19th Centuries )
In 1866 William T. Walters commissioned a deluxe album from French art dealer Georges Petit (1856–1920) to house his growing collection of watercolors by the French watercolorist Léon Bonvin (1834-1866). This album tells us a great deal about how Walters viewed this artist. Placing the watercolors in an album helped preserve them and enhanced the sense of their preciousness, while encouraging intimate, close-up viewing of the individual works. For his album, Walters commissioned a decorative frontispiece and tailpiece from the flower painter Jean-Marie Reignier; these were completed by early 1867. This is Reignier's frontispiece which reads "Near Paris by Léon Bonvin."
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1867, by commission [George A. Lucas as agent]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Exhibitions
| 2012 | Near Paris: The Watercolors of Léon Bonvin. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 2005-2006 | The Essence of Line: French Drawings from Ingres to Degas. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 1/1/2002 | Treatment | examined for exhibition; cleaned; re-housed; mounted; other |
Geographies
France (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 11 15/16 x W: 9 1/8 in. (30.3 x 23.1 cm)
Credit Line
Commissioned by William T. Walters, 1867
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.1501
