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Catharine Lorillard Wolfe (1828–1887)

1876
Not on view
The chic satin evening gown that collector and philanthropist Catharine Lorillard Wolfe donned for portrait sittings in Paris belies her reputation as "quiet and unassuming." Wolfe, the first female benefactor of The Met, was said to be the richest unmarried woman in the United States. Her cousin John Wolfe encouraged her patronage of Cabanel, a celebrated society portraitist and genre painter, and other preeminent European academic artists. She bequeathed this portrait, amid numerous artworks, to the museum in 1887 along with an acquisitions endowment—a gift heralded by the press as greatly elevating the profile of public collections of modern art in New York.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Catharine Lorillard Wolfe (1828–1887)
  • Artist: Alexandre Cabanel (French, Montpellier 1823–1889 Paris)
  • Date: 1876
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 67 1/2 x 42 3/4 in. (171.5 x 108.6 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Bequest of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, 1887
  • Object Number: 87.15.82
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Study for "The Hours," Hôtel Pereire, Paris, Alexandre Cabanel French, Red chalk
Study for "The Hours," Hôtel Pereire, Paris
Alexandre Cabanel
ca. 1864
Nude Male Figure with a Sword, Alexandre Cabanel French, Black chalk
Nude Male Figure with a Sword
Alexandre Cabanel
1878
Echo, Alexandre Cabanel French, Oil on canvas
Echo
Alexandre Cabanel
1874
Florentine Poet, Alexandre Cabanel French, Oil on wood
Florentine Poet
Alexandre Cabanel
1861
The Birth of Venus, Alexandre Cabanel French, Oil on canvas
The Birth of Venus
Alexandre Cabanel
1875

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