Soap Bubbles | Thomas Couture | All | European Paintings | Collection Database | Works of Art

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Signed and inscribed: (lower left) T.C.; (on paper) immortalité de l'un . . . (one's immortality . . .)

Gallery LabelCouture triumphed at the Salon of 1847 with his "Romans of the Decadence" (Musée d'Orsay, Paris), a monumental canvas whose depiction of a Roman orgy was interpreted as a satire of the corrupt regime of the July Monarchy (1830–48). With "Soap Bubbles," he reused a traditional vanitas image: the bubbles symbolize the transience of life, while the wilting laurel wreath on the wall suggests the fleeting nature of praise and honors. The word "immortalité," inscribed on the paper inserted in the framed mirror, reinforces the painting's allegorical content.

In 1867, Édouard Manet, who studied in Couture's Paris atelier, painted "Boy Blowing Bubbles" (Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon), which, although recalling Couture's precedent, counters his master's allegory with an emphatically naturalistic portrayal.

ProvenanceJohn Wolfe, New York (until 1863; sale, Leed's, Old Düsseldorf Gallery, New York, December 22–23, 1863, no. 129, for $4,750 to Hoey); J. Hoey, New York (from 1863); James T. Sanford, New York (by 1864–at least 1867); Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, New York (by 1876–d. 1887)

Exhibition History

New York. Metropolitan Fair. "Art Exhibition at the Metropolitan Fair, in Aid of the U.S. Sanitary Commission," 1864, no. 97 (as "Day Dreams," lent by J. T. Sandford [sic]).

Philadelphia. Logan Square. "Catalogue of Paintings, Drawings, Statuary etc. of the Art Department in the Great Central Fair," June 1864, no. 397 (lent by J. T. Sanford).

New York. National Academy of Design. "New York Centennial Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Selected from the Private Art Galleries," 1876, no. 205 (lent by Miss Catharine L. Wolfe).

Newark Museum. "19th-Century French and American Paintings from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 9–May 15, 1946, no. 10.

College Park. University of Maryland Art Gallery. "Thomas Couture: Paintings and Drawings in American Collections," February 5–March 15, 1970, no. 28 (as "Soap Bubbles").

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 36.

Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19.Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.

References

Cicerone. "Private Galleries: Collection of Miss Catharine L. Wolfe." Art Amateur 2 (March 1880), p. 76.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hand-Book No. 1. New York, 1887?, p. 12, no. 79.

"The Wolfe Pictures." New York Times (November 7, 1887), p. 4.

Mrs. Schuyler van Rensselaer. "The Wolfe Collection. News and Notes." Independent 39 (December 1, 1887), p. 7.

"Some Former Picture Auctions." Art Amateur 24 (March 1891), p. 6.

"The Metropolitan Museum of Art—The French Painters." New York Times (May 22, 1895), p. 4.

William Sharp. "The Art Treasures of America (Concluded.)." Living Age, 7th ser., 1 (December 3, 1898), p. 604.

Arthur Hoeber. The Treasures of The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. New York, 1899, p. 84, ill. p. 87.

Frank Fowler. "The Field of Art: Modern Foreign Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum, Some Examples of the French School." Scribner's Magazine 44 (September 1908), p. 383.

Thomas Couture and his grandson Preface by Camille Mauclair in Thomas Couture (1815–1879): Sa vie, son oeuvre, son caractère, ses idées, sa méthode. Paris, 1932, pp. 40, 155, ill. opp. p. 12.

A Selection of Paintings. New York, 1936, unpaginated, under no. 29.

Joseph C. Sloane. French Painting Between the Past and the Present: Artists, Critics, and Traditions, from 1848 to 1870. [reprint 1973]. Princeton, 1951, p. 132.

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. 147–48, ill.

Jane Van Nimmen in Thomas Couture: Paintings and Drawings in American Collections. Exh. cat., University of Maryland Art Gallery. [College Park, Md.], [1970], p. 58, no. 28.

Robert Kashey and Martin L. H. Reymert in Thomas Couture, 1815–79: Drawings and Some Oil Sketches. Exh. cat., Shepherd Gallery. [New York], [1971], unpaginated, under no. 33.

George Mauner. Manet, Peintre-Philosophe: A Study of the Painter's Themes. University Park, Pa., 1975, pp. 124–25, 130, 135, fig. 67.

Denys Sutton in Paris—New York: A Continuing Romance. Exh. cat., Wildenstein. New York, 1977, p. 19.

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. 94, fig. 4.

Albert Boime. Thomas Couture and the Eclectic Vision. New Haven, 1980, pp. 112–13, 335–38, 461–62, 470–71, 474, 527, 592, 612, ill.

William R. Johnston. The Nineteenth Century Paintings in the Walters Art Gallery. Baltimore, 1982, p. 97.

Françoise Cachin in Manet, 1832–1883. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983, pp. 268, 270, ill. [French ed., p. 270, ill.].

Master Drawings: 1700–1890. Exh. cat., W. M. Brady & Co., Inc. New York, 1989, unpaginated, under no. 33.

Luísa Sampaio in "Only the Best": Masterpieces of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1999, p. 138, under no. 65.

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. 57, 203, no. 36, ill. (color and bw).

Kathryn Calley Galitz in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 52, 236, no. 49, ill. (color and bw).

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