The Reprimand

Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): J.G.Vibert. 1874.

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, New York (1874–d. 1887; commissioned from the artist)

Paris. Salon. May 1–?, 1874, no. 1785 (lent by Miss Wolfe).

Cincinnati. Taft Museum. "Cavaliers and Cardinals: Nineteenth-Century French Anecdotal Paintings," June 25–August 16, 1992, no. 36.

Nestor Paturot. Le Salon de 1874. Paris, 1874, pp. 36, 250–51, as "La Mère contant au curé le péché de sa fille" and "La Réprimande"; comments that the latter title must have been assigned for Miss Wolfe's benefit since the figures' expressions suggest a monstrous revelation and forced confession.

Louis Gonse. "Salon de 1874 (2e article)." Gazette des beaux-arts, 2nd ser., 10 (July 1874), pp. 38, 40, identifies it as a Spanish scene and praises its "gaieté parfaite".

Jules Claretie. L'art et les artistes français contemporains. Paris, 1876, p. 253, in a review of the Salon of 1874, calls this picture a "vaudeville espagnol".

J. B. F. W. "Jehan Georges Vibert." Aldine 9 (December 1, 1878), p. 185.

Edward Strahan [Earl Shinn], ed. The Art Treasures of America. Philadelphia, [1880], vol. 1, pp. 130, 134, ill. opp. p. 128 (engraving).

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

Eugène Montrosier. Les Artistes modernes. Vol. 1, Les Peintres de genre. Paris, 1881, p. 123.

Montezuma [Montague Marks]. "My Note Book." Art Amateur 16 (May 1887), p. 122.

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

Mrs. Schuyler van Rensselaer. "The Wolfe Collection at the Metropolitan Museum. II." Independent 39 (November 24, 1887), p. 9.

"Gallery and Studio: The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Art Amateur 18 (December 1887), p. 7.

Clarence Cook. Art and Artists of Our Time. New York, 1888, vol. 1, p. 194.

Walter Rowlands. "The Miss Wolfe Collection." Art Journal, n.s., (January 1889), pp. 13–14, ill.

Sophia Antoinette Walker. "Fine Arts: The Painting Master in the Wolfe Collection." Independent 46 (August 2, 1894), p. 12.

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

J[ean]. G[eorges]. Vibert. "The Reprimand." Century Magazine 51 (March 1896), pp. 720, 722–23, ill., describes this scene as taking place in Andalusia; provides dialogue between the abbé, alongside his cat, Minos, and the indignant mother, Doña Pilar, in which he reminds her that the sins of her own youth resembled those of her daughter, Maria; the abbé bestows the penance "that heaven in its wrath may give you one day a daughter like yourself".

General Lew[is]. Wallace. Famous Paintings of the World: A Collection of Photographic Reproductions of Great Modern Masterpieces. New York, 1896, p. 44, ill.

Jehan-Georges Vibert. La Comédie en peinture. Paris, 1902, vol. 2, pp. 66–70, ill. [French translation of Ref. Vibert 1896 with some additions].

Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, XIX Century. New York, 1966, p. 196, ill., note that it was painted to order for Catharine Lorillard Wolfe.

Eric M. Zafran. Cavaliers and Cardinals: Nineteenth-Century French Anecdotal Paintings. Exh. cat., Taft Museum. Cincinnati, 1992, pp. 16, 100–101, no. 36, ill., mentions a study for this composition (1873; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle) and a grisaille copy (Vibert estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 25, 1902, no. 91).

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 470, ill.

Rebecca A. Rabinow. "Catharine Lorillard Wolfe: The First Woman Benefactor of the Metropolitan Museum." Apollo 147 (March 1998), pp. 51–52, fig. 6.

Sylvie Patry in Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment. Ed. Sylvie Patry et al. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Washington, 2024, p. 157 n. 2.

There is a small oil on panel study for this picture (1873; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle). A grisaille copy was included in Vibert's estate sale, Paris, November 25–26, 1902, no. 91 (present location unknown).