Signed (lower left): ALEX CABANEL
Cabanel's "Birth of Venus" (Musée d'Orsay, Paris) created a sensation at the Salon of 1863, which was known as the "Salon of the Venuses" because several paintings of the goddess were exhibited. This painting embodies the ideals of academic art in its careful modeling, polished surface finish, and mythological subject. Cabanel's picture established his reputation, and it was purchased by Napoleon III for his personal collection. (A depiction of Napoleon III's wife hangs at right.) In 1875, the American banker John Wolfe commissioned the present canvas, one of numerous replicas Cabanel made after the original.
John Wolfe, New York (1875–d. 1894; commissioned from the artist, sale, Leavitt, New York, April 5–6, 1882, bought in)
New York. Seventh Regiment Armory. "Seventh Regiment New Armory Fair," November 1879, no. 98.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Taste of the Seventies," April 2–September 10, 1946, no. 70.
Toledo Museum of Art. "The Spirit of Modern France: An Essay on Painting in Society, 1745–1946," November–December 1946, no. 38.
Art Gallery of Toronto. "The Spirit of Modern France: An Essay on Painting in Society, 1745–1946," January–February 1947, no. 38.
Claremont, Calif. Pomona College Gallery. "Muse or Ego: Salon and Independent Artists of the 1880's," April 16–May 12, 1963, no. 14.
Jacksonville, Fla. Cummer Gallery of Art. "Artists of the Paris Salon," January 7–February 3, 1964, no. 8.
South Hadley, Mass. Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. October 1–November 30, 1966, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Impressionism: A Centenary Exhibition," December 12, 1974–February 10, 1975, not in catalogue.
Hamburger Kunsthalle. "Courbet und Deutschland," October 19–December 17, 1978, no. 479 (as "Die Geburt der Venus").
Frankfurt am Main. Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut. "Courbet und Deutschland," January 17–March 18, 1979, no. 479.
Yokohama Museum of Art. "Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: French Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century," March 25–June 4, 1989, no. 84.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 29.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19.Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.
The Art Treasures of America. reprint, 1977. New York, 1879, vol. 1, pp. 64, 67.
Edward Strahan. "Art at the Seventh Regiment Fair." Art Amateur (December 1, 1879), p. 4.
Cicerone. "American Art Galleries: Collection of Mr. John Wolfe." Art Amateur (June 1880), p. 6.
Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings. New York, 1892, vol. 1, p. 225.
William Sharp. "The Art Treasures of America (Concluded.)." Living Age, 7th ser., 1 (December 3, 1898), p. 606.
Bryson Burroughs. Catalogue of Paintings. 1st ed. New York, 1914, pp. 35–36, no. C11–4.
The Spirit of Modern France: An Essay on Painting in Society, 1745–1946. Exh. cat., Toledo Museum of Art. 1946, unpaginated, no. 38, ill.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. "XIX Century." French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2, New York, 1966, pp. 166–67, ill.
Carl R. Baldwin The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Impressionist Epoch. [New York], 1974, pp. 10, 11, 23, ill.
Lois Marie Fink. "French Art in the United States, 1850–1870: Three Dealers and Collectors." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 92 (September 1978), p. 97.
John Pope-Hennessy. "Roger Fry and The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Oxford, China, and Italy: Writings in Honour of Sir Harold Acton on his Eightieth Birthday. London, 1984, p. 231.
Gary Tinterow in Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: French Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century. Exh. cat., Yokohama Museum of Art. [Tokyo?], 1989, p. 138, no. 84, ill. (color).
Rebecca A. Rabinow. "Catharine Lorillard Wolfe: The First Woman Benefactor of the Metropolitan Museum." Apollo 147 (March 1998), pp. 51, 54 n. 22.
T. J. Clark. The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers. revised ed. (lst ed. 1984). Princeton, 1999, pp. xii, 122, fig. 145.
Patricia Mainardi. "The 19th-century Art Trade: Copies, Variations, Replicas." The Van Gogh Museum Journal (2000), p. 67, fig. 6.
Alexandra R. Murphy in 19th Century European Art and Fine 19th Century European Art. Christie's, New York. October 30, 2002, pp. 67–68, fig. 5.
Kathryn Calley Galitz in The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 48–49, 51, 183, no. 29, ill. (color and bw).
Kathryn Calley Galitz in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 58, 62, 63, 217, no. 59, ill. (color and bw).
Gary Tinterow in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, fig. 4 (installation photo).
Gary Tinterow in The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, fig. 4 (installation photo).
Add to My Met Gallery
Print
List View
Enlarge
Zoom