Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
The Lorelei
(18th and 19th Centuries )
During an 1886-89 stay in Paris, this Boston painter experimented with working in oils outdoors. He gradually abandoned the dark-toned palette of the Barbizon masters for the brighter colors of the French Impressionists. Hassam named this study of a nude model, painted as if posed on a cliff, after the siren in the German poet Heinrich Heine's "Die Lorelei" (1827). In the poem, the Lorelei, a water spirit dwelling in the treacherous rocks along the Rhine River, lures ships to their destruction with her tantalizing singing:
Night falls as I linger, dreaming,
And calmly flows the Rhine;
The Peaks of the mountains gleaming
In the golden sunset shine.
A wondrous lovely maiden
Sits high in glory there;
Her robe with gems is laden,
And she combs out her golden hair.
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.
Purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore, possibly 1905 [1]; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
[1] this painting was possibly acquired at the National Academy of Design exhibition of 1905, where it won the Thomas B. Clarke Prize
Exhibitions
| 2005-2006 | The Walters' American Collection. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 6/13/1963 | Treatment | cleaned; coated; loss compensation; other |
| 12/17/1963 | Examination | examined for loan |
| 6/1/1971 | Treatment | cleaned |
| 5/16/1991 | Examination | examined for condition |
| 5/24/1991 | Treatment | cleaned |
Geographies
USA (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 25 1/8 x W: 21 1/16 in. (63.8 x 53.5 cm); Framed H: 38 × W: 32 11/16 × D: 3 3/8 in. (96.5 × 83 × 8.5 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1905 (?)
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.
37.310