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Alfred Stevens
Belgian, 1823–1906
The Visit
c. 1870
A woman wearing a luxurious dressing gown sits on a velvet sofa and leans on a mahlstick, an implement used by painters to steady the hand. Her visitor, still wearing a hat and shawl, examines the painting on the easel. Surrounding them are Japanese fans, ceramics, screens, and lacquered boxes that were considered very fashionable among the upper classes in nineteenth-century France.
Image Caption
Alfred Stevens, The Visit, c. 1870, oil on panel. Clark Art Institute, 1955.861
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
25 1/2 x 18 5/8 in. (64.7 x 47.3 cm)
Object Number
1955.861
Acquisition
Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status
On View
Select Bibliography
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.. The William H. Vanderbilt Collection of Modern Paintings, extended loan from George W. Vanderbilt, May 1, 1902-1919. International Fine Arts Exhibitions.. Palm Beach International Art and Antique Fair Catalogue, 1998. Paris.. Exposition Universelle.. 1878.. Shinn, Earl. The Art Treasures of America. Edited by Earl Shinn. Philadelphia: George Barrie, 1879-80. Debosc de Pessquidoux.. L'Art dans les deux mondes.. Paris: E. Plon.. 1881.. Edward Strahan (Earl Shin).. Mr. Vanderbilt's House and Collection as Described by Edward Strahan.. Boston: George Barrie.. 1883-84.. . Catalogue of the William H. Vanderbilt Collection of Paintings. New York: DeVinne Press. 1886. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.. Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Illustrated Catalogue.. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.. 1905.. François Boucher.. Alfred Stevens.. Paris: Editions Rieder.. 1930.. Gustav Vanzype.. Les Frères Stevens.. Brussels: Nouvelle Société d'Editions.. 1936.. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.. Exhibit Thirteen: Alfred Stevens, Belgian, 1823-1906.. August 1960.. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972. London: John Mitchell & Sons.. Alfred Emile Leopold Stevens, 1823-1906, exh. cat. by Peter Mitchell.. May 9-June 6, 1973.. Lucie-Smith, Edward and Celestine Dars. How the Rich Lived: The Painter as Witness 18701914. London: Paddington Press, 1976. Coles, William A. Alfred Stevens. Sept. 10-Oct. 16, 1977; Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Nov. 20, 1977-Jan. 1, 1978; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Feb. 2-March 19, 1978. Ann Arbor (MI): University of Michigan Museum of Art. 1977. Norman, Geraldine. Nineteenth-Century Painters and Painting: A Dictionary. London: Thames & Hudson, 1977. Sadakichi Hartmann; ed. by Harry W. Lawton & George Knox.. The Valiant Knights of Daguerre.. Berkeley: University of California Press.. 1978.. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.. In the Studio: The Making of Art in 19th-Century France, Sept. 12-Oct. 25, 1981. Cat. by David B. Cass. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Robert Rosenblum and H. W. Janson.. 19th-Century Art.. New York: Abrams.. 1984.. Henry James.. The Portrait of a Lady. The Great Writers: Their Lives, Works, and Inspiration.. London: Marshall Cavendish Partworks.. 1986/87.. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Peter H. Feist.. Impressionismus: Die Entdeckung der Freizeit.. Leipzig: E. A. Seeman Verlag.. 1933.. Interventions: Griselda Pollock Looks at Alfred Stevens, Oct. 21, 2000-April 8, 2001. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2000. Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name, shown at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. John Stomberg. Looking East: Brice Marden, Michael Mazur, Pat Steir. Boston: Boston University Art Gallery. 2002. Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.
Provenance
[Vander Donckt frères, Paris, in 1878, probably sold to Vanderbilt]; William H. Vanderbilt, New York (1878–d. 1885); George Washington Vanderbilt, his son, by descent (1885–d. 1914);¹ Cornelius Vanderbilt III, his nephew, by descent (1914–d. 1942); Grace Wilson Vanderbilt, his wife, by descent (1942–45, her sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, 18 Apr. 1945, no. 148, ill., as The Morning Call); [Knoedler, New York, sold to Clark, 20 April 1945]; Robert Sterling Clark (1945–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.
1. George Washington Vanderbilt placed this and a number of other works on long-term loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1886. The works were returned to his nephew in 1919.