Scene from the Spanish Inquisition

c. 1868–70

A clergyman, dressed in vestments and a golden cloak, stands in a space resembling a castle courtyard, surrounded by prisoners and torturers. Historical subjects, like this scene apparently inspired by the Spanish Inquisition, were valued by France’s official art establishment, but less popular in avant-garde circles that promoted images of modern life. The sketchy brushwork and lack of detail suggest the painting was made as a study for a larger work.

Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	33 7/8 x 25 11/16 in. (86 x 65.3 cm) Frame: 38 1/2 x 28 7/8 x 1 3/8 in. (97.8 x 73.3 x 3.5 cm)
Object Number	2009.12.4
Acquisition	Gift of the Joseph F. McCrindle Collection, 2009
Status	Off View

Image Caption

Henri Regnault, Scene from the Spanish Inquisition, c. 1868–70, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, gift of the Joseph F McCrindle Collection, 2009.12.4

Select Bibliography

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.

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EUROPEAN PAINTINGS CATALOGUE ENTRY

Provenance

[Julius H. Weitzner, New York and London];¹ Joseph F. McCrindle, New York and London (d. 2008); Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation, New York (2008–9, given to the Clark); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2009. 1. According to the Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation, Joseph F. McCrindle’s grandmother, Edith Mosler Feder, owned a Regnault. The subject and title of Feder’s Regnault is unknown. It is possible that this is the same picture now at the Clark. See the Clark’s curatorial file.