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Source Description
A letter written by the artist to William Walters dated July 20, 1860 illuminates the subject of this painting. It shows a brother and sister resting before an old tomb. The brother is attempting to comfort his sibling by playing the violin, and she has fallen into a deep sleep, "oblivious of all grief, mental and physical."This composition exists in at least one other version, now preserved at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. A closely related reduced replica was given to the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique by a descendant of the artist. The melancholic subject's popularity is attested by its reproduction on a porcelain plaque manufactured by the Royal Porcelain Factory, Berlin.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
17409
label
Power of Music
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
citationUrl
pageCount
4
Source metadata
id
17409
sourceUrl
contentType
drawing
stage
normalized
title
Power of Music
description
A letter written by the artist to William Walters dated July 20, 1860 illuminates the subject of this painting. It shows a brother and sister resting before an old tomb. The brother is attempting to comfort his sibling by playing the violin, and she has fallen into a deep sleep, "oblivious of all grief, mental and physical."This composition exists in at least one other version, now preserved at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. A closely related reduced replica was given to the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique by a descendant of the artist. The melancholic subject's popularity is attested by its reproduction on a porcelain plaque manufactured by the Royal Porcelain Factory, Berlin.
provenance
Acquired by William T. Walters, Baltimore, before 1861; inherited by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
date
1852 (?)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Painting & Drawing
oil paintings (visual works)
panel paintings
imageCount
4
pageCount
4
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
57.2
height
43.3
dimensionsRaw
H: 22 1/2 x W: 17 1/16 in. (57.2 x 43.3 cm); Framed H: 35 1/16 × W: 29 7/8 × D: 5 1/8 in. (89 × 75.9 × 13 cm)
Source extras
inscriptions
[Signature] Lower left: Louis Gallait
med
oil on wood (mahogany) panel
creator_ids
2937
collection_ids
EAN
exhibition_ids
2674
170
3300
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
e04e47a41f1c0407
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
e8a22b4f9ded87d8
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
ded145836e9ddc48
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
4
type
photo
mediaId
e9ad4c6d23619d13
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no