Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings Signed (lower right): P.Puvis de Chavannes
Gallery Label The growth of Puvis's reputation as a decorative painter was aided by his practice of exhibiting smaller versions of the mural-size works that he painted for public buildings throughout France. "Inter artes et naturam" is a reduced replica of the central panel of a triptych painted for the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, in 1888–91. The artist chose the program, basing it on the museum's collections of antiquities and locally produced ceramics and pottery. The scene shows men excavating classical architectural fragments, and women decorating pottery on the hillside of Bonsecours, a suburb of Rouen. In the distance are the Seine and a panoramic view of the city.
Provenance [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1895; stock no. 3389; bought from the artist, August 1895; shipped October 1895 to Durand-Ruel, New York]; [Durand-Ruel, New York, 1895–99; sold June 1899 to Payne]; Colonel Oliver H. Payne, New York (1899–d. 1917); his nephew, Harry Payne Bingham, New York (1917–d. 1955); his widow, Mrs. Harry Payne Bingham, New York (1955–58)
Exhibition History Pittsburgh. Carnegie Institute. "Third Annual Exhibition," November 3, 1898–January 1, 1899, no. 210 (as "Inter Artes et Naturam").
London. Hayward Gallery. "French Symbolist Painters: Moreau, Puvis de Chavannes, Redon and their Followers," June 7–July 23, 1972, no. 224.
Liverpool. Walker Art Gallery. "French Symbolist Painters: Moreau, Puvis de Chavannes, Redon and their Followers," August 9–September 17, 1972, no. 224.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Van Gogh as Critic and Self-Critic," October 30, 1973–January 6, 1974, no. 44.
Toronto. Art Gallery of Ontario. "Puvis de Chavannes and the Modern Tradition," October 24–November 30, 1975, no. 30.
Amsterdam. Rijksmuseum Vincent Van Gogh. "Franse meesters uit het Metropolitan Museum of Art: Realisten en Impressionisten," March 15–May 31, 1987, no. 28.
Amsterdam. Van Gogh Museum. "Pierre Puvis de Chavannes," February 25–May 29, 1994, no. 130.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. "Lost Paradise: Symbolist Europe," June 8–October 15, 1995, no. 332.
Venice. Palazzo Grassi. "From Puvis de Chavannes to Matisse and Picasso: Toward Modern Art," February 10–June 16, 2002, no. 20.
Amsterdam. Van Gogh Museum. "Vincent's Choice: Van Gogh's Musée Imaginaire," February 14–June 15, 2003, unnumbered cat. (pl. 94).
References "Recent Loans." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16 (February 1921), p. 41. Camille Mauclair. Puvis de Chavannes . Paris, 1928, p. 162. 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, p. 230, ill. Mary Anne Stevens and Alan Bowness in French Symbolist Painters: Moreau, Puvis de Chavannes, Redon and their Followers . Exh. cat., Hayward Gallery. London, 1972, p. 111, no. 224, ill. Charles S. Moffett. Van Gogh as Critic and Self-Critic . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1973, unpaginated, no. 44. Richard J. Wattenmaker. Puvis de Chavannes and the Modern Tradition . Exh. cat., Art Gallery of Ontario. Toronto, 1975, pp. 23–24, 78–79, no. 30, ill. (color). Louise d'Argencourt in Puvis de Chavannes, 1824–1898 . Exh. cat., Grand Palais, Paris. Ottawa, 1977, pp. 209–10, under no. 190 [French ed., Paris, 1976, pp. 211–12, under no. 190]. Sjraar van Heutgen et al. in Franse meesters uit het Metropolitan Museum of Art: Realisten en Impressionisten . Exh. cat., Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1987, pp. 17, 82–83, no. 28, fig. 7 and ill. (color). Charles F. Stuckey in Charles F. Stuckey and William P. Scott. Berthe Morisot, Impressionist . Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1987, p. 138, fig. 82. Aimée Brown Price. Pierre Puvis de Chavannes . Exh. cat., Van Gogh Museum. Amsterdam, 1994, pp. 213–17, no. 130, ill. (color). Guy Cogeval in Lost Paradise: Symbolist Europe . Exh. cat., Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Montreal, 1995, pp. 467, 520, no. 332, colorpl. 516. Constance Naubert-Riser in Lost Paradise: Symbolist Europe . Exh. cat., Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Montreal, 1995, p. 459. Margaret Werth. The Joy of Life: The Idyllic in French Art, circa 1900 . Berkeley, 2002, pp. 21, 36, 128, 246 n. 53, fig. 7.