Reverie—The Letter

1870s

In an elegant salon, a fashionably dressed young woman has received a splendid bouquet of flowers. Having impatiently torn open the accompanying letter, she is reflecting on is contents. Her slumped pose suggests that the message is not the one she was hoping for. Madrazo’s meticulous brushwork captures the colors and textures of the room and its occupant in exquisite detail.

Medium	oil on panel
Dimensions	26 9/16 x 19 1/8 in. (67.5 x 48.5 cm) Frame: 31 1/8 x 23 3/4 x 1 3/8 in. (79.1 x 60.3 x 3.5 cm)
Object Number	1955.918
Acquisition	Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status	On View

Image Caption

Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta, Reverie—The Letter, 1870s, oil on panel. Clark Art Institute, 1955.918

Select Bibliography

Cunningham, Charles C., et al. The Elegant Academics: Chroniclers of 19th-Century Parisian Life. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: The Clark, 1974. Ludig, Sandra G. Between the Lines: Ladies and Letters at the Clark. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1982. Strahan, Edward [Earl Shinn], ed. The Art Treasures of America: Being the Choicest Works of Art in the Public and Private Collections of North America. Philadelphia: G. Barrie, 1880. E. Bénézit.. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays.. Paris: Grund.. 1948.. 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. 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. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Roglán, Mark. Prelude to Spanish Modernism: Fortuny to Picasso. The Albuquerque Museum, August 21- November 27, 2005 ; Meadows Museum, December 11, 2005- February 26, 2006. The Albuquerque Museum. 2005. 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. Ganz, James A. and Richard R. Brettell. Great French Paintings from the Clark: Barbizon through Impressionism. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications; Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2011.

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EUROPEAN PAINTINGS CATALOGUE ENTRY

Provenance

Robert L. Cutting, New York (by 1879–until 1892, his sale, Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, 22 Mar. 1892, no. 47, as Reverie—The Letter); private collection; sale, American Art Association, New York, 24 Jan. 1929, no. 99, sold to Scott & Fowles, as agent for Clark; [Scott & Fowles, New York, sold to Clark, 28 Jan. 1929]; Robert Sterling Clark (1929–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.