A Portrait of Dr. François-Marie Desmaisons

ca. between 1832 and 1833

Eugène Delacroix French, 1798-1863

On View

Era of Revolution, Level 3, South Wing

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About the Artwork

Using rich, jewel-like tones applied with a fluid brush, Eugene Delacroix presents his sitter, the physician Francois-Marie Desmaisons, silhouetted against a stormy sky. The gathering clouds, shot through with only glimmers of light, may reflect Desmaison's contemplative mood. The doctor looks off to left, as if absorbed in serious thought. So unaware is he of the viewer's gaze that he hooks his right thumb into the armhole of his waistcoat with a casual, private gesture, as if he is alone. Desmaisons must have been fond if this likeness, which he presented to his mother and then retained after her death.

Title A Portrait of Dr. François-Marie Desmaisons

Artwork Date ca. between 1832 and 1833

Artist Eugène Delacroix

Life Dates 1798-1863

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. French

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Framed: 35 × 30 5/16 × 3 1/4 inches (88.9 × 77 × 8.3 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2001.63

Markings

Signed Signed, upper right: Eug. Delacroix.

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

Dr. François-Marie Desmaisons [d. 1856] (Paris, France)

possibly presented by the sitter to his mother [d. 1852] and retained by him after her death

by descent to the sitter's brother and sole heir, Baron Jean-Jacques Pierre Desmaisons [d. 1873] (Aix-les-Bains, France)

by descent to his nephew, Charles Reymond (Turin, Italy)

until 1967, by descent to his granddaughter, Maria Buffa di Perrero

(Galerie Heim, Paris, France)

June 21, 1983, sold by (Sotheby's, London, United Kingdom) lot 16

private collection (USA)

by 2001, (P.&D. Colnaghi & Co., London, United Kingdom) 2001-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

Paris Salon de 1833. Exh. cat. Paris, 1833, no. 634.

Gautier, T. "Salon de 1833." La France littéraire 6 (1833): p. 151.

Moreau, A. E. Delacroix et son oeuvre. Paris, 1873, pp. 173, 234.

Laviron G. and B. Galbaccio. Le Salon de 1833. Paris, 1883, p. 98, fff.

Robaut, A. L'Oeuvre complet de Eugène Delacroix. Paris, 1885, p. 103, no. 375.

Joubin, A., ed. Correspondance générale d'Eugène Delacroix. Paris, 1935-1938, vol. 1, p. 364, no. 1; vol. 5, p. 171, n. 1.

Johnson, L. "Delacroix et les Salons. Documents inédits au Louvre." Revue du Louvre 16 (1966): pp. 217-230, esp. pp. 221, 229, note 14.

Johnson, L. "Four Rediscovered Portraits by Delacroix." Burlington Magazine 112, no. 802 (January 1970): pp. 3-9, esp. pp. 8-9 (fig. 7).

Bortolatto, L. L'Opera pittorica completa di Delacroix. Milan, 1972, no. 223.

Janson, H.W. Catalogues of the Paris Salon 1673 to 1881: Paris Salon de 1833. New York, 1977, p. 46, no. 634.

Sérullaz, M. Delacroix. Milan, 1980, pp. 45, 183, cat. 132 (ill.). (as 1832-33).

Johnson, L. The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix. Oxford, 1986, vol. 3, p. 37, no. 318; vol. 4, pl. 39.

Eugène Delacroix. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich and Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut. Zürich and Frankfurt-am-Main, 1987-1988, pp. 140-141, cat. 40 (ill.).

Bulletin of the DIA: Annual Report 76, nos. 3/4 (2002): pp. 25, 27 (ill.).

Keyes, G. "Delacroix's Portrait of Doctor François-Marie Desmaisons," Bulletin of the DIA, vol. 83, no. 1/4, 2009, pp. 50-57, color repro.

Bulletin of the DIA: Notable Acquisitions, 2000–2015 89, no. 1/4 (2015): p. 12 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Eugène Delacroix, A Portrait of Dr. François-Marie Desmaisons, ca. between 1832 and 1833, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, 2001.63.