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Pierre-Narcisse Guérin
1774-1833
The Death of Alcestis, or The Heroism of Conjugal Love
ca. 1814
Black chalk with smudging, white chalk, both chalks worked wet, on two vertically joined sheets of machine made laid paper.
14 3/8 x 23 3/4 inches (362 x 603 mm)
Gift of Karen B. Cohen.
2022.337
Notes:
The French Revolution and subsequent conflicts popularized themes of virtue and sacrifice, often derived from Greco-Roman sources. This drawing dramatically envisions Euripidesʼs early tragedy Alcestis (438 BC), which also provided the basis for contemporary operas. In the play, the Fates permit the condemned King Admetus to live if a volunteer takes his place in death. As Admetusʼs elderly father demurs, his young wife, Queen Alcestis, steps forward to sacrifice her life so her children will not be left fatherless. Guerinʼs theatrical composition was partly inspired by a painting of the same subject by Pierre Peyron.
Provenance:
Paul Prouté, Paris; his son, Hubert Proute, Paris; Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London; Shepherd Gallery, New York, 1986; Martin Reymert/The Drawing Shop, New York; from whom purchased by Karen B. Cohen, 1989.
Associated names:
Cohen, Karen B., former owner.
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