The Shepherdess of the Alps

1775

Étienne Aubry French, 1745-1781

On View

European, Level 2, South Wing

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

Title The Shepherdess of the Alps

Artwork Date 1775

Artist Étienne Aubry

Life Dates 1745-1781

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. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 20 × 24 1/2 inches (50.8 × 62.2 cm) Framed: 29 1/8 × 33 × 3 1/4 inches (74 × 83.8 × 8.3 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Founders Society Purchase with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb

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. 48.12

Markings

Signed Signed and dated, lower left on barrel: Aubry 1775

Provenance

Le Chevalier Lambert (Paris, France);
March 27, 1787, sold by (J.B. Le Brun, Paris, France) lot 206;
Sir John Foley Grey, Baronet (Malvern, England) [as The Lodge];
June 15, 1928, sold by (Christie's, London, England) auction Sir John Foley Grey lot 127 [as A Visit of the Rich Relatives];
1928-ca. 1934, purchased by (Horace Ayers Buttery, London, England) [for 1050 guineas];
1947, (A.F. Mondschein Galleries, London, England);
1948-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, 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.

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Published References

Salon du Louvre. Paris, 1775, no. 177; reprint 1977, p. 28.

Diderot, D. "Salon de 1775." Oeuvres complètes. ed. J. Assézat. Paris, 1876, vol. 12, pp. 24-25.

Hautecoeur, L. "Le Sentimentalisme dans la peinture française de Greuze à David." Gazette des Beaux-Arts (1909): pp. 159-176, p. 166, ill. reversed p. 167.

Ingersoll-Smouse, F. "Quelques tableaux de genre inédits par Étienne Aubry 1745-1781." Gazette des Beaux-Arts (1925): p. 79.

"Notable Works of Art now on the Market." suppl. to Burlington Magazine (December 1934): pl. VI.

Grigaut, P. "Marmontel's Shepherdess of the Alps in 18th Century Art." Art Quarterly 12, no. 1 (1949): 30-47 (ill.).

Richardson, E.P. Catalogue of the Whitcomb Gifts, Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1954, pp. 66-67 (ill.).

George Washington's World. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts. Houston, 1954, checklist no. 152.

"French Master Works." Freedom Festival. Exh. cat., Cobo Hall. Detroit, 1964, (checklist?).

Brookner, A. Greuze, The rise and fall of an eighteenth-century phenomenon. London, 1972, p. 26, pl. 100.

Bukdahl, E. Théorie et pratique dans les "Salons" de Diderot. trans. J.-P. Faucher. Copenhagen, 1980, p. 212 (fig. 109).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Étienne Aubry, The Shepherdess of the Alps, 1775, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Edgar B. Whitcomb, 48.12.