About the Artwork
Pygmalion and Galatea
1781
Louis Jean François Lagrenée
1724-1805
French
Unknown
Oil on canvas
Unframed: 23 3/8 × 19 1/4 inches (59.4 × 48.9 cm) Framed: 30 5/8 × 26 1/2 × 3 1/8 inches (77.8 × 67.3 × 7.9 cm)
Paintings
European Painting
Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Long Fund, Miscellaneous Gifts Fund and City of Detroit Insurance Recovery Fund
72.296
This work is in the public domain.
Markings
Signed and dated, upper right: L Lagrenee/1781
------
Provenance
December 2, 1795, probably consigned by the artist, sold by (Salle de vente, rue Française no. 13, près celle du Petit-Lion, Paris, France) Villers sale, part of lot 3
1869, sold by (Dubourg, Paris, France)
March 23, 1908, sold by (Hôtel Drouot, Paris, France) lot 31 [titled La Sculpture]
1908, purchased by Lesour de Villiers
(Galerie Joseph Hahn, Paris, France)
1972, (H. Shickman Gallery, New York, New York, USA)
1972-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 pageExhibition History
Please note: This section is empty
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.
Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Goncourt, E. and J. de. "Livre de raison de Louis Lagrenée." L'Art 4 (1877): pp. 25-26, 136-141, 255-260, no. 301. Reprint, Portraits intimes du XVIIIe siècle: Etudes nouvelles d'après les lettres autographes et les documents inédits, Paris, 1878, pp. 323-362.
Benezit, Dicationnaire, vol. 5. 1952, pp. 359-360. Reprint, 1966.
Sandoz, M. "Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, dit l'ainé (1725-1805), peintre d'histoire." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français (1961): pp. 115-136.
Sandoz, M. "The Drawings of Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée: Notes for a Tentative Catalogue Raisonné." Art Quarterly 26 (1963) pp. 47-70.
Bulletin of the DIA 52, no. 1 (1973): p. 66 (ill.).
"Recent Accessions of American and Canadian Museums." Art Quarterly 36 (1973): p. 115 (ill.).
K.R. "Shorter Notices: Recent Museum Acquisitions." The Burlington Magazine 115, no. 843 (June 1973): pp. 393, 399 (fig. 67).
La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité: supplement to Gazette des beaux-arts, no. 1249 (February 1972): p. 132, no. 473 (ill.).
Diderot, D. Salons, 3 vols., ed. J. Adhémar. Oxford, 1975-1983, vol. 1 p. 43 (ill.). [incorrect identification.]
Schnapper, A. "Louis Lagrenée and the Theme of Pygmalion." Bulletin of the DIA 53, nos. 3 & 4 (1975): pp.112-117 (ill. on cover).
From David to Delacroix, French Painting 1774-1830: The Age of Revolution. Exh. cat., Grand Palais, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. Paris, Detroit, and New York, 1974/1975, pp. 64, 521-522, cat. 115 (pl. 18).
Nakayama, K. and S. Takashima. Nu Feminin dans l'Art, Histoires et Legendes, vol. 6. Tokyo, 1980, no. 42.
Sandoz, M. Les Lagrenée, vol. 1 (Louis (Jean, François) Lagrenée, 1725-1805). Paris, 1983, no. 349 (ill.).
The Loves of the Gods: Mythological Painting from Watteau to David. Exh. cat., Grand Palais, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Kimbell Art Museum. Paris, Philadelphia, and Fort Worth, 1991/1992, pp. 502-507, cat. 63 (ill.).
Stoichita, Victor. O Efeito Pigmaliã: Para Uma Antropologia Histórica Dos Simulacros. Lisbon, 2011, no. 79 (ill.).
America Collects Eighteenth Century French Painting. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2017, pp. 29, 165, 172, 274-275 (pl. 13 and detail p. 29).
Betzer, Sarah. Animating the Antique: Sculptural Encounter in the Age of Aesthetic Theory. University Park, 2021, p. 159, (fig. 94 ill.).
Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.
Suggest FeedbackCatalogue Raisoneé
Please note: This section is empty
Credit Line for Reproduction
Louis Jean François Lagrenée, Pygmalion and Galatea, 1781, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Long Fund, Miscellaneous Gifts Fund, et al., 72.296.
Feedback
We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction or improvement.
Suggest Feedback![Pygmalion and Galatea](https://dia.widen.net/content/6m7grzfvrt/webp/72.296-S1.webp?quality=100)
![Pygmalion and Galatea](https://dia.widen.net/content/6m7grzfvrt/webp/72.296-S1.webp?w=500&quality=75)