Gathering Olives at Tivoli

Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): Français 68

Paul Lagarde, Paris (1868–97; commissioned from the artist; his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, January 27, 1897, no. 7, as "La Cueillette"); Isidore Montaignac, Paris (1897)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Taste of the Seventies," April 2–September 10, 1946, no. 107 (as "Gathering Olives").

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT.

J. G. Prat. "Silhouettes d'artistes contemporains: François-Louis Français." L'art 28 (1882), p. 76, calls it "Une Cueillette d'oliviers à Tivoli" and notes that it is one of two decorative panels executed for M. Lagarde in Paris; calls the second panel "Des Ruines au soleil couchant, en Italie".

[Aimé Gros]. François-Louis Français: Causeries et souvenirs par un de ses élèves. Paris, 1902, p. 182.

Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 37.

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. 145, ill., note the influence of Corot's decorative panels; incorrectly spell the donor's name as J. Montaigna.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 420, ill.

Roland Conilleau. Louis Français: Peintre de la nature, 1814–1897. Sarraguemines, 1997, p. 70, reproduces a smaller and more loosely painted version of this composition (41 x 33 cm; present location unknown), otherwise nearly identical to ours.

A smaller version of this composition (41 x 33 cm; present location unknown), nearly identical to The Met's work, is reproduced in Conilleau 1997.

This work may not be lent.