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Echo

Alexandre Cabanel  (French, Montpellier 1823–1889 Paris)

Date:
1874
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
38 1/2 x 26 1/4 in. (97.8 x 66.7 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit Line:
Gift of Mary Phelps Smith, in memory of her husband, Howard Caswell Smith, 1965
Accession Number:
65.258.1

This artwork is not on display

  • Gallery Label

    In Greek mythology Echo is the beautiful nymph who falls in love with Narcissus, a handsome youth who loves only his own reflection. Because of her endless chatter, Hera condemns Echo to a life of silence except for repeating what others say to her. Still in love with Narcissus, Echo retreats to a remote grotto and pines away until only her voice is left.

  • Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

    Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): ALEX. CABANEL. / 1874

  • Provenance

    Samuel P. Avery, New York (from 1874; commissioned from the artist with a pendant, "Ariane abandonnée"); Charles Stewart Smith, New York (until d. 1909); his son, Howard Caswell Smith, New York and Oyster Bay, N.Y. (1909–d. 1965); his widow, Mrs. Howard Caswell (Mary Phelps) Smith, Oyster Bay, N.Y. (1965; her gift to MMA)

  • Exhibition History

    Musée Fabre de Montpellier Agglomération. "Alexandre Cabanel (1823–1889), La tradition du beau," July 10–December 5, 2010, no. 204 (as "La Nymphe Écho").

    Cologne. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud. "Alexandre Cabanel: Die Tradition des Schönen," February 4–May 15, 2011, no. 53.

  • References

    Alexandre Cabanel. Letter to his niece. August 26, 1874, archives Saint-Pierre, Rome [excerpt published in Ref. Hilaire 2010, p. 381 n. 1], states that he has repainted this picture and its pendant "Ariane" and they are now finished; reports that Avery, for whom the pictures are intended, saw them the previous evening and "il en a été touché jusqu'aux larmes".

    Georges Lafenestre. "Alexandre Cabanel." Gazette des beaux-arts, 3rd ser., 1 (April 1889), p. 278.

    Albert Boime. The Academy and French Painting in the Nineteenth Century. London, 1971, p. 211 n. 64, cites it as an example of Cabanel's later style, characterized by strong color and brilliant brushwork.

    Michel Hilaire in Michel Hilaire and Sylvain Amic. Alexandre Cabanel (1823–1889), La tradition du beau. Exh. cat., Musée Fabre de Montpellier Agglomération. Paris, 2010, pp. 380–81, no. 204, ill. (color), notes that this painting and a pendant of Ariane, another mythological figure (present location unknown) were commissioned by Avery.

    Jean Nougaret in Michel Hilaire and Sylvain Amic. Alexandre Cabanel (1823–1889), La tradition du beau. Exh. cat., Musée Fabre de Montpellier Agglomération. Paris, 2010, p. 467, no. 333.



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