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Springtime

1873
Not on view

This flirtatious duo in classicizing dress, painted with notable technical finesse, reflects Cot’s allegiance to the academic style of his teachers, including Bouguereau and Cabanel. Exhibited at the Salon of 1873, the picture was Cot’s greatest success, widely admired and copied in engravings, fans, porcelains, and tapestries. Its first owner, hardware tycoon John Wolfe, awarded the work a prime spot in his Manhattan mansion, where visitors delighted in "this reveling pair of children, drunken with first love ... this Arcadian idyll, peppered with French spice." Wolfe’s cousin, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, later commissioned a similar scene from Cot, The Storm, now also in The Met’s collection (87.15.134).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Springtime
  • Artist: Pierre-Auguste Cot (French, Bédarieux 1837–1883 Paris)
  • Date: 1873
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 83 5/16 × 50 5/16 in. (211.6 × 127.8 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Steven and Alexandra Cohen, 2012
  • Object Number: 2012.575
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

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The Storm, Pierre-Auguste Cot French, Oil on canvas
The Storm
Pierre-Auguste Cot
1880
Seated Peasant, Paul Cézanne French, Oil on canvas
Seated Peasant
Paul Cézanne
ca. 1892–96
Madame Cézanne (Hortense Fiquet, 1850–1922) in a Red Dress, Paul Cézanne French, Oil on canvas
Madame Cézanne (Hortense Fiquet, 1850–1922) in a Red Dress
Paul Cézanne
1888–90
The Collector of Prints, Edgar Degas French, Oil on canvas
The Collector of Prints
Edgar Degas
1866
Haystacks (Effect of Snow and Sun), Claude Monet French, Oil on canvas
Haystacks (Effect of Snow and Sun)
Claude Monet
1891

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