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Source Description
The leading landscape painter of the late 18th century, Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes was also an important theoretician whose book <em>Elements of Practical Perspective</em> influenced generations of French artists who followed. In the book, the artist described two ways of envisioning nature: "seeing it as it is," and "seeing it as it could be." He preferred the latter, believing that it demanded more of the imagination than merely copying the natural world. The perfection of the setting in this drawing reflects the noble, classical subject: three maidens cutting their hair and offering it on an altar to a river god.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
150176
label
Classical Landscape
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
150176
contentType
drawing
title
Classical Landscape
description
The leading landscape painter of the late 18th century, Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes was also an important theoretician whose book <em>Elements of Practical Perspective</em> influenced generations of French artists who followed. In the book, the artist described two ways of envisioning nature: "seeing it as it is," and "seeing it as it could be." He preferred the latter, believing that it demanded more of the imagination than merely copying the natural world. The perfection of the setting in this drawing reflects the noble, classical subject: three maidens cutting their hair and offering it on an altar to a river god.
date
1779
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79932412
creators
1968
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 41.3 x 48.3 cm (16 1/4 x 19 in.); Secondary Support: 43.6 x 52.1 cm (17 3/16 x 20 1/2 in.)
cul
France, 18th century
accession
1980.91
Source extras
tec
black gouache and brush and gray wash, over black chalk and graphite, heightened with white gouache
tombstone
Classical Landscape, 1779. Pierre Henri de Valenciennes (French, 1750–1819). Black gouache and brush and gray wash, over black chalk and graphite, heightened with white gouache; sheet: 41.3 x 48.3 cm (16 1/4 x 19 in.); secondary support: 43.6 x 52.1 cm (17 3/16 x 20 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1980.91
supportMaterials
description
green laid paper
collection
DR - French
inscriptions
inscription
signed, lower left, in brown ink: Valencienne Fecit / a Rome. 1779 / 1779
didYouKnow
The ritual seen here, in which women cut their hair and offer it to a god, is rarely depicted in the visual arts.
citations
citation
<em>Exhibition of French Drawings: Neo-Classicism</em>. Exh. Cat. London: Heim Gallery, 1975.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: no. 121
citation
Rohowsky, Peter S. <em>Nineteenth Century French and Other Continental Watercolors and Oil Sketches</em>. Exh. Cat. New York: Shepherd Gallery, 1979.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: no. 134
citation
Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1980.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 68, no. 6 (June 1981): 163–219.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 192; Mentioned: p. 217, no. 245
citation
DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. <em>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 120-121, p. 289, no. 46; Reproduced: p. 121
citation
Marlais, Michael, John Varriano, and Wendy M. Watson. <em>Valenciennes, Daubigny, and the Origins of French Landscape Painting</em>. Exh. Cat. South Hadley, MA: Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, 2004.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 30
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:45:30.679000
sourceId
150176
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - French
med
black gouache and brush and gray wash, over black chalk and graphite, heightened with white gouache
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
aef662a2c840a9b7