Provenance
H. Walferdin, Paris, France; Edmond Borthon, Baron de Dijon; Private Collection, Paris, France; Otto Wertheimer [c. 1878–1973/3] Paris, France; Galerie Les Tourettes, Basel, Switzerland; Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Sonnenberg, New York, NY; Harriet Whitelaw-Griffin [d. 2018], New York, NY, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (?–1980); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 30, 1980–)
Accession Number
1980.17
Medium
brush and brown ink and wash over black chalk
Dimensions
Sheet: 24 x 37.6 cm (9 7/16 x 14 13/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund
Tags
Drawing Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Ink French
Background & Context
Background Story
The Funeral of Decius Mus from 1774 is a painting by Jean-Honore Fragonard after Peter Paul Rubens's famous series depicting the story of the Roman consul Decius Mus. Rubens (1577-1640) had painted the Decius Mus series as one of his most accomplished narrative cycles, and Fragonard's 1774 version demonstrates Rubens's continuing influence on 18th-century French painting. Fragonard (1732-1806) was one of the most accomplished painters of the French Rococo, known for his elegantly composed, colorfully painted works, and his version of The Funeral of Decius Mus shows both Rubens's narrative composition and Fragonard's own distinctive colorfully painted manner.
Cultural Impact
The Funeral of Decius Mus is important in the history of French painting because it demonstrates Rubens's continuing influence on 18th-century French painting through Fragonard's version of the Decius Mus narrative. Rubens's Decius Mus series was one of the most important narrative cycles in Baroque painting, and Fragonard's 1774 version shows both Rubens's narrative composition and Fragonard's own distinctive manner, representing one of the most accomplished traditions in the reception of Rubens in French painting.
Why It Matters
The Funeral of Decius Mus is Fragonard's version after Rubens: the Roman consul's funeral rendered in the colorfully painted manner of one of the most accomplished painters of the French Rococo. The 1774 painting shows both Rubens's narrative composition and Fragonard's own distinctive manner.
