The young Seurat made more drawings after Ingres than any other artistic source. Here, he studied the detail of Poussin’s hand in Ingres’s "Apotheosis of Homer" at the Louvre. Ingres had looked to Poussin’s self-portrait, also in the Louvre, for his representation of the painter placed in the lower left of his canvas. Focusing on the hand of the seventeenth-century founder of the French classical tradition, Seurat’s inscription on the drawing notes, "voila le génie" (there is the genius).
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Artwork Details
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Title:The Hand of Poussin, after Ingres
Artist:Georges Seurat (French, Paris 1859–1891 Paris)
Artist: After Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (French, Montauban 1780–1867 Paris)
Date:1875–77
Medium:Graphite
Dimensions:8 7/16 x 5 7/8 in. (21.4 x 14.9 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Gift of Mrs. Alfred H. Barr Jr., 1987
Accession Number:1987.326
Inscription: On recto of mount, in lower left corner, in graphite, by John Rewald: "This drawing after Poussin's "Selfportrait" / in the Louvre, identified on the back by / Paul Signac and Félix Fénéon as being by / Georges Seurat / was given to me in Paris by Fénéon in / 1938. I offer it to Alfred H. Barr Jr / with the expression of my deepest gratitude / John Rewald / N.Y. May 1944";
On recto of mount, in lower right corner in graphite, by John Rewald: "Georges Seurat / copy after Poussin / about 1877 / reproduced in: Rewald,/ "Georges Seurat," page 3."
On recto of drawing, at lower right margin, in graphite by the artist (most of it illegible): "voilà le génie."
On recto of drawing, along upper right margin, in graphite by the artist: indecipherable notes and letters.
On reverse of mount, at upper right, in graphite: "575"
On reverse of mount, at center, in graphite: "21 1/2 x 15"
On reverse of mount, below, in blue pencil, by Félix Fénéon: "Dessin de Seurat / ff"; Initialed in orange crayon by Paul Signac, "P.S.";
On reverse of mount, below, in graphite: "Main / (Le long aubord droit à la feuille, / des notes autographes indéchiffrables)" [?]
Félix Fénéon (French)after the artist's death in 1891until given to John Rewald, 1938; John Rewald, 1938 until given to Alfred H. Barr, Jr., 1944; Alfred H. Barr Jr. (American)May 1944 until his death in 1981; Mrs. Alfred H. Barr Jr., by inheritance, 1981–1987
Buchholz Gallery, New York. "Seurat : His Drawings," March 4, 1947–March 29, 1947.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Seurat: Drawings and Oil Sketches from New York Collections," September 29–November 27, 1977.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Georges Seurat, 1859–1891," September 24, 1991–January 12, 1992.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Georges Seurat: The Drawings," October 9, 2007–January 7, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints: Materials and Techniques," April 29–July 26, 2021.
de Hauke 285; Paris-New York 1991, no. 3
John Rewald, Lionel Abel Georges Seurat. Wittenborn and Co., La Jeune Parque, 1st; subsequent editions in 1946 and 1990. New York, 1943, fig. no. 4, xi, pp. 2, 3.
Curt Valentin Gallery Seurat: His Drawings Exh. cat., New York, Buchholz Gallery, 4-29 March 1947, coinciding with the publication of Germain Seligman, 'The Drawings of Georges Seurat'. New York, 1947, cat. no. 27.
John Rewald Georges Seurat. Albin Michel, 1st French edition; English editions published 1943 & 1946. 1948, fig. no. 10, p. 24, ill.
Pr. Paul Bonnet "Seurat et le Néo-Impressionnisme." Le Crocodile, Bulletin de l'Association Générale de l'Internat des Hospices Civils de Lyon. No. 4, Lyon, Octobre-Décembre, 1957, p. 8.
Robert L. Herbert Seurat: Paintings and Drawings Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago, 16 January - 7 March 1958, and New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 24 March - 11 May 1958. Edited by Daniel Catton Rich, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1958, cat. no. 5, p. 26.
César de Hauke Seurat et son oeuvre. vol. 2, Paris, 1961, cat. no. 285, pp. 24-25, ill.
Henri Perruchot La Vie de Seurat. Hachette et Cie., Paris, 1966, p. 17.
Pierre Courthion, Norbert Guterman Georges Seurat. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., The Library of Great Painters, New York, 1968, p. 13.
Fiorella Minervino, André Chastel L'opera completa di Seurat. Rizzoli, See also French edition, 'Tout l'oeuvre peint de Seurat', Italian. Milan, 1972, cat. no. D84, pp. 112, 113, ill.
Fiorella Minervino, André Chastel Tout l'oeuvre peint de Seurat. Ernest Flammarion, See also Italian edition, 'L'opera complete di Seurat', French. Paris, 1972, cat. no. D84, pp. 112, 113, ill.
Hilton Kramer "Seurat, A Master of Elusive Perceptions" New York Times. 30 September,. New York, 1977, p. 62.
Jacob Bean Seurat, Drawings and Oil Sketches from New York Collections. Exh. cat.: September 29 - November 27, 1977. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1977, cat. no. 2.
Erich Franz, Bernd Growe, John William Gabriel Georges Seurat, Zeichnungen / Georges Seurat, Drawings Catalogue published on the occasion of an exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, and Kunsthaus Zürich, 1983-1984. Prestel Verlag (Munich), Little, Brown and Company (Boston), Editions in German and English. Munich and Boston, 1983-1984, cat. no. 3, p. 179, ill.
Jacob Bean "Curatorial Reports and Departmental Accessions: Drawings." in Annual Report of the Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 1, 1987 - June 30, 1988. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no.118, New York, 1988, p. 23.
John Rewald Seurat: A Biography. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Thames and Hudson, Revised from 1943 text with additional material and bibliography. New York and London, 1990, pp. 18, 21, ill.
David Carrier "Georges Seurat (Review of MMA exhibition 'Georges Seurat', 24 September 1991 - 12 January 1992)." Arts Magazine. vol. 66, no. 4, New York, December 1991, p. 61.
Anne Distel Seurat. Chêne, Switzerland?, 1991, fig. no. 3, p. 148, ill.
Robert L. Herbert, Françoise Cachin, Anne Distel, Susan Alyson Stein, Gary Tinterow Georges Seurat, 1859-1891. Exh. cat., Paris, Grand Palais, 9 April 1991 - 12 August 1991, and MMA, 24 September 1991 - 12 January 1992. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, English version; French version also published. New York, 1991-1992, cat. no. 3, pp. 15-16, ill.
John Russell "French Show Finally Gives Seurat His Due (Review of Grand Palais exhibition 'Georges Seurat', 9 April - 12 August 1991)." New York Times. New York, 1991, p. C12.
Nicholas Wadley Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Drawing. Laurence King Publishers, London, 1991, fig. no. 31, pp. 33, 34, ill.
Jean-Pierre Cuzin, Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey, Fabrice Hergott, Henri Loyrette Copier Créer. De Turner à Picasso : 300 oeuvres inspirées par les maîtres du Louvre. Exh. cat., Paris, Musée du Louvre, 26 April - 26 July 1993. Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1993, cat. no. 119, p. 183, ill.
Roselyne de Ayala, Jean-Pierre Guéno, John Goodman Brilliant Beginnings : the Youthful Works of Great Artists, Writers and Composers. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., French edition published 1999. New York, 2000, p. 138, ill.
Jodi Hauptman, Richard Thomson, Richard Shiff, Karl Buchberg, Hubert Damisch, Bridget Riley George Seurat: The Drawings. Exh. cat. Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, 2007, cat. no. 1, ill.
Louis-Antoine Prat Le Dessin français au XIXe siècle. Somogy Editions d'Art, Paris, 2011, fig. no. 1374, pp. 572-573, ill.
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