President and Fellows of Harvard College

President and Fellows of Harvard College

© President and Fellows of Harvard College
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© President and Fellows of Harvard College
Gallery Text
Paris hosted the 1878 Exposition universelle, or world’s
fair, to celebrate France’s recovery after the Franco-
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Prussian War of 1870. For the event, Gustave Moreau
submitted a cycle of biblically themed paintings to
reflect on the nation’s renewal. The series, which
included this work as well as Jacob and the Angel
(1874–78; also in Harvard’s collection) and David (1878),
marked three stages of human life. Here Moreau
celebrates the anticipation and promise associated
with childhood: Moses, recognized by the rays
emanating from his forehead, floats in his basket on the
Nile, surrounded by the ruins of ancient Egypt. In a
written commentary Moreau suggested the prophet’s
enlightenment, noting the contrast between “this
people of mummies, sphinxes, and gods with staring
eyes and unmoving gaze” and “this fine human fruit full
of sap and life.”
Identification and Creation
Object Number
1943.262
People
Gustave Moreau, French (Paris 1826 - 1898 Paris)
Title
The Infant Moses
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Moïse Exposé sur le Nil
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
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Date
c. 1876-c. 1878
Culture
French
Location
Level 2, Room 2130, European and American Art, 17th–
19th century, The Pre–Raphaelites and Their Legacy
View this object's location on our interactive map
Physical Descriptions
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
185 x 136.2 cm (72 13/16 x 53 5/8 in.)
framed: 202.6 x 153 x 9.8 cm (79 3/4 x 60 1/4 x 3 7/8
in.)
Provenance
Gustave Moreau, 1878, sold; to Antoni Roux, 1893, sold
[through his sale, Vente A. Roux at Galerie Georges
Petit, 1914, no. 22]. Mme. de Saint Alary. Comte
Roederer, Paris, sold; to Grenville Lindall Winthrop
[through Martin Birnbaum], New York, NY, 1935,
bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.
Acquisition and Rights
Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of
Grenville L. Winthrop
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Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.262
Division
European and American Art
Contact
[email protected]
Publication History
Paul Flat, "Gustave Moreau", La Revue de l'Art Ancien
et Moderne (January 10 - March 10, 1898), p. 231-244,
p. 45, repr.
Robert de Montesquiou, Un Peintre Lapidaire, Gustave
Moreau, exh. cat. (Paris, France, 1906), preface, p. 20
Léonce Bénédite, "Deux Idealistes: Gustave Moreau et
Edward Burne-Jones", La Revue de l'Art Ancien et
Moderne (April - June 1910), repr. p. 67
Jean Laran and Léon Deshairs, Gustave Moreau,
Librairie centrale des beaux-arts (Paris, France, 1913),
pp. 78, 83-84, repr.
A. Roux Sale, auct. cat., Galerie Georges Petit (Paris,
France, May 19, 1914 - May 20, 1914), no. 22
Lee Sheridan, "'French Symbolist Art' Timely Museum
Exhibit", Springfield Daily News (February 1973)
Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau: with a
catalogue of the finished paintings watercolors, and
drawings, New York Graphic Society (Boston, MA,
1976), p. 130, catalog no. 172, p. 325; repr. in b/w p.
325, color detail p. 133
Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900
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in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue
including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum ,
Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA,
1990), p. 79, color plate; pp. 121, 237, repr. b/w cat. no.
319
Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Gustave
Moreau, Flammarion (Paris, France, 1991), no. 198, p.
99-100, color plate XXV
"Gustave Moreau", Saber ver lo Contemporaneo del
Arte (1993), no. 15, text p. 52; repr. in color p. 53
Françoise Cachin, 1893, L'Europe des Peintres, exh.
cat., Musée d'Orsay (Paris, France, 1993), repr. in b/w
p. 182
Gustave Moreau: Gyusutavu Moro, exh. cat., Nihon
Hoso Kyokai (Tokyo, Japan, 1995), p. 130-131, repr. b/w
Geneviève Lacambre, Gustave Moreau: Maître Sorcier,
Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 1997),
pp. 58, 61, repr. p. 60
Dominique Lobstein, "Anthony Roux: Portrait d'un
Collectionneur et Mécène", Dossier de l'Art (October
1998), no. 51, repr. in color p. 21
Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau: Monographie et
nouveau catalogue de l'oeuvre achevé, ACR Édition
(Paris, France, 1998), no. 202, p. 337, repr; repr. in color
p. 81
Geneviève Lacambre, Gustave Moreau: between Epic
and Dream , exh. cat., The Art Institute of Chicago
(Chicago, IL, 1999), p. 288
Geneviève Lacambre, Gustave Moreau: Magic and
Symbols, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1999),
pp. 58, 61, repr. p. 60
Chikashi Kitazaki, ed., Between Reality and Dreams:
Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the
Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum , exh. cat.,
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National Museum of Western Art (Ueno, Japan, 2002),
p. 29, repr. as fig. 18
Shelly Durrell, Healing the Fisher King: Spiritual
Lessons with Parzival, Gump, The Grail, Tao and Star
Wars, Art Tao Press (Miami, Florida, 2002), ill. p. 340
Stephan Wolohojian, ed., A Private Passion: 19th-
Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L.
Winthrop Collection, Harvard University, exh. cat., The
Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press
(New York, NY, 2003), repr. in color p. 32, as fig. 30
Stephan Wolohojian, Ingres, Burne-Jones, Whistler,
Renoir... La Collection Grenville L. Winthrop, exh. cat.,
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and Réunion des
Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 2003), repr. in color
p. 40, as fig. 29
Peter Cooke, "Pour une Théorie de la Nature et du
Paysage chez Gustave Moreau", exh. cat., Editions
Artlys (Versailles, France, 2004), pp. 32-35, repr. in
color as ill. 16
Professor Nobuyuki Senzoku, How to Look at Fantastic
Arts, Tokyo-Bijutsu Inc. (Tokyo, Japan, 2004), pp. 4647, repr. in color
Paysages de Rêve de Gustave Moreau, exh. cat., Artlys
(Versailles, France, 2004), pp. 32-34, repr. as ill. 16
Narayan Khandekar and Stephan Wolohojian, "Gustave
Moreau's 'Jacob and the Angel' Re-examined", The
Burlington Magazine (April 2005), vol. CXLVII, no. 1225,
pp. 253-257, p. 253, repr. in color
Stephan Wolohojian, ed., Harvard Art Museum/
Handbook, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, MA,
2008), p. 174, rep.
Peter Cooke, Gustave Moreau: History Painting,
Spirituality and Symbolism , Yale University Press (New
Haven and London, 2014), pp. 96, 97, 101, repr. p. 100
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as fig. 59, repr. p. 70 (detail)
Exhibition History
Exposition Universelle, 1878 , [Unknown venue, Paris],
05/01/1878 - 10/31/1878
Moreau and Monticelli, Busch-Reisinger Museum,
Cambridge, 05/13/1960 - 06/08/1960
Pre-Raphaelite and Early French Symbolist Art in the
Fogg Collections, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge,
01/16/1973 - 02/25/1973
For Students of Art and Lovers of Beauty: Highlights
from the Collection of Grenville L. Winthrop, Harvard
University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum,
Cambridge, 04/16/2004
32Q: 2130 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums,
11/01/2014
Subjects and Contexts
Collection Highlights
Google Art Project
This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff
but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently
revised and enhanced. For more information please
contact the Division of European and American Art at
[email protected]
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