Collection close
Image for Italian Peasants at a Shrine
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Zero

Download Image
  • arrow_forward_ios
  • arrow_forward_ios
Italian Peasants at a Shrine Thumbnail
Italian Peasants at a Shrine Thumbnail

Italian Peasants at a Shrine

Horace Vernet (French, 1789-1863) (Artist)
1829
watercolor heightened with gum, over graphite underdrawing with details in iron gall ink on moderately thick, slightly textured, beige wove paper
(18th and 19th Centuries )

In this drawing from early in the artist's career, which may or may not have a textual source, the Romantic Vernet is in full evidence. An Italian brigand kneels at the feet of his beloved, clasping her hand to his heart, as they stand before an altar that one easily imagines to house a weathered sculpture of the Madonna. The nomadic renegade, who lives to defy a corrupt government and uphold universal principles of good, has momentarily laid aside his arms. He declares his virtuous intentions, and the lovers appeal to the Madonna for her blessing. Executed with a fluid use of pen and ink and texturizing areas of wash, the drawing is anecdotally transparent, with all the picturesque details of dress prescribed by contemporary literary convention.

Inscription

[Inscription] Lower right recto, in iron gall ink: Rome, 1829, HV; [Numbers] Upper right verso, with illegible mark, in graphite: 63, 42; [Number] Center verso, faintly in graphite: 30; [Signed] Lower right verso, in graphite: Horace Vernet

Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1870 (?) [mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Exhibitions

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.
1992-1993 Italian Vistas: Selections from the Permanent Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.
1992 French Masterworks on Paper. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.

Conservation

Date Description Narrative
1/1/2002 Treatment examined for exhibition; cleaned; repaired; mounted; other
Share

Geographies

France (Place of Origin)

Measurements

H: 7 1/2 x W: 5 5/8 in. (19 x 14.3 cm)

Credit Line

Acquired by William T. Walters, 1870 (?)

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.

37.1395

Do you have additional information?

Notify the curator