Gustave Courbet
Jean Journet partant à la conquête de l’harmonie universelle (Jean Journet Set Forth to Conquer the Universal Harmony), 1850 (?)
Oil on canvas, 103.5 x 83.5 cm (with frame: 128 x 108.5 cm) on recto, lower left, signed in red: “G. Courbet”
on verso, on stretcher, upper left, inscribed on blue framed label: “388”; centre, in pencil: “D1421”;
on frame, lower centre, inscribed in yellow: “8395”
canvas relined
Provenance:
(…)
(By 1882: Jean-Paul Mazaroz-Ribalier, Paris (per Fernier 1978)?)
(Sale: Vente Mazaroz-Ribalier, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 13–14 May 1890, lot 1?) (Acquired at the above sale: Gabrielle Esnault-Pelterie, Paris ?)
(…)
Probably with Raphaël Gerard, Paris (per inscription)
Acquired by Hildebrand Gurlitt in France in the 1940s (per Archives diplomatiques) 1945–1950: Central Collecting Point Wiesbaden, no. WIE 1936
From 15 December 1950: Hildebrand Gurlitt, Dusseldorf By descent to Cornelius Gurlitt, Munich/Salzburg From 6 May 2014: Estate of Cornelius Gurlitt
Exhibitions:
Le Salon de 1850/51. Exh. cat., Palais National, Paris, 30 December 1850–January 1851. [cat. no.
664]
Exhibition et vente de 38 tableaux et 4 dessins de l’œuvre de M. Gustav Courbet, 1855 [cat. no.
15]
Exposition des Beaux-Arts. Union artistique, Toulouse, 30 April 1862. [cat. no. 83]
Exposition des œuvres de Gustave Courbet à l’École des Beaux Arts, Paris, May 1882. [cat. no. 44;
as property M. D… M…]
Bibliographical references:
Ideville, Henri d’. Gustave Courbet: notes et documents sur sa vie et son œuvre. Paris: Librairie Parisienne, 1878. [pp. 46, 116]
Album de l’Exposition des œuvres de Gustave Courbet. 1882. [pl. 8, 20, 21]
Catalogue des tableaux anciens […] tableaux modernes parmi lesquels 24 œuvres importantes de G. Courbet formant la collection de M. Mazaroz-Ribalier. Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 13–14 May 1890.
[lot 1]
L., A. de. “Mouvement des arts.” In: Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, 31 May 1890. [pp. 169f.]
Estignard, Alexandre. Courbet: sa vie, ses oeuvres, illustré de 22 phototypies de la maison Delagrange et Magnus à Besançon. Besançon: Impr. de Delagrange-Louys, 1896. [pp. 23f., 154]
Riat, Georges. Gustave Courbet–Peintre. Paris: Floury, 1906. [pp. 83ff.]
Duret, Theodore. “Courbet: Graveur et Illustrateur,” pp. 421–432. In: Gazette des Beaux Arts, vol.
50, no. 39 (May 1908). [p. 423, ill.]
Bénédite, Léonce. Courbet. In collaboration with Jean Laran and Philippe Gaston-Dreyfus. Paris: La Renaissance du Livre, 1911. [pp. 31f.]
Mireur, Hippolyte. Dictionnaire des ventes faites en France et à l’Étranger pendant les XVIIIme &
XIXme siècle. Vol 2. Paris: Maison d’éditions d’œuvres artistiques, 1911. [pp. 285]
Duret, Théodore. Courbet. Paris: Bernheim-Jeune & Cie, 1918. [pp. 135ff, pl. XXXVIII]
Léger, Charles. Courbet. Paris: G. Crès et Cie., 1929. [p. 51f., ill.]
Schapiro, Meyer. “Courbet and Popular Imagery: An Essay on Realism and Naïveté,” pp. 164–191.
In: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, vol. 4, no.3/4 (April 1941–Juli 1942). [p. 168]
Huyghe, René. La relève de l’imaginaire: réalisme–romantisme. Paris: Flammarion, 1976. [cat no.
439, p. 414]
Nochlin, Linda. Gustave Courbet: A Study of Style and Society. New York: Garland Publishing, 1976.
[pp. 168–171]
Adhémar, Jean. “Deux notes sur des tableaux de Courbet,” 200–204. In: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 6, no. 89 (December 1977). [p. 202]
Fernier, Robert. La vie et l'œuvre de Gustave Courbet: Catalogue raisonné. 2 vols. Lausanne:
Bibliothèque des Arts, 1977–1978. [vol. 1, no. 105, ill.; vol. 2, no. 35, ill.]
Courbet und Deutschland. Exh. cat., Hamburger Kunsthalle, 19 October–17 December 1978;
Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt/Main, 17 January–18 March 1979.
[photo album of 1882 exhition, cat. no. 474; images Jean Journet, figs. 8, 20, 21]
Courthion, Pierre. L' opera completa di Courbet. Milan: Rizzoli, 1985. [cat. no. 99, ill.]
Courbet en privé. Exh. cat., Musée Gustave Courbet, Ornans, 8 July–20 October 2000. [p. 20]
Chu, Petra ten-Doesschate. The Most Arrogant Man in France: Gustave Courbet and the Nineteenth-Century Media Culture. Princeton University Press, 2007. [pp. 50, 56f.]
Gustave Courbet. Exh. cat., Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 13 October 2007–28 January 2008, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; 27 February–18 May 2008, Musée Fabre, Montpellier, 14 June–28 September 2008. [ref. to Jean Journet in entry for cat. no. 65]
Courbet: Ein Traum von der Moderne. Exh. cat., Schirn-Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Main, 15 October 2010–30 January 2011. [p. 55, fig. 4]
Willette, Jeanne. “Rediscovering a Long-Lost Courbet: Rethinking Courbet’s Jean Journet.”
Available online: www.academia.edu/20018458/Rediscovering_a_Long-Lost_Courbet_ Rethinking _Courbets_Jean_Journet_ (21 July 2016).
Primary sources:
Hildebrand Gurlitt und Cornelius Gurlitt Papers:
Miscellaneous: ref. no. in procress:
Poem and lithography Jean Journet, no. 17.1_F1721 [n.d.]
Photographs: BArch, N 1826 Bild-2081 [=21.1_F2104], [n.d.]
BArch, N 1826 Bild-1948 [=17.1_F1723], [n.d.]
Register of Salzburg works, 2014, no. Wien 038
Hildebrand Gurlitt and Cornelius Gurlitt Papers – possible reference:
Correspondence: BArch, N 1826/183, fol. 385 [=vol. 8, fol. 306]. Dr. A. Rieth to Hildebrand Gurlitt, 29 December 1947
Ministère des Affaires étrangeres, Archives diplomatiques, Paris:
Achats allemands en France, no. 209SUP/824 [n.d.]
National Archives, College Park, Maryland (NARA):
M1947, Wiesbaden Central Collecting Point, Property Card no. WIE 1936 www.fold3.com/image/231981121 (14 July 2016)
Further sources consulted (selected):
Silvestre, Théophile. Les artistes français: études d'après nature. Paris: E. Dentu, 1862.
Exposition des œuvres de M. G. Courbet. Exh. cat., Rond-point du pont de l'Alma, Paris, 1867.
Chasrel, T. “Gustave Courbet,” pp. 145–152. In: L’art revue hebdomadaire illustrée, vol. 4, no. 1 (1878).
Gros-Kost, Emile. Courbet: Souvenirs intimes. Paris: Derveaux, 1880.
Collection du peintre G. Courbet. Auct. cat., M. Robardet, Besançon, 18–19 November 1880.
Véron, Eugène. “Gustave Courbet: Un enterrement à Ornans,” pp. 232–234. In: L'art revue hebdomadaire illustrée, vol. 7, no. 4 (1881).
Catalogue de trente-trois tableaux et etudes par Gustave Courbet et dependant de sa succession […]. Auct. cat., Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 9 December 1881.
Véron, Eugène. “Gustave Courbet,” pp. 225–228. In: L'art revue hebdomadaire illustrée, vol. 8, no.
2 (1882).
Catalogue de tableaux, études, esquisses et dessins par Gustave Courbet dépendant de sa succession […]. Auct. cat., Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 28 June 1882.
Catalogue de tableaux modernes [...] composant la collection de M. G. G. [Goupy]. Auct. cat., Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 30 March 1898.
Exposition Universelle de 1900: Catalogue official illustré de l’Exposition centennale de l’art
français de 1800–1889. Exh. cat., Paris, 1900.
Catalogue de tableaux modernes [...]. Auct. cat., Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 8 May 1900.
Catalogue des tableaux modernes [...] composant la collection de Mme X. Auct. cat., Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 5 May 1902.
Meier-Graefe, Julius. Corot und Courbet: Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der modernen Malerei. Leipzig: Insel, 1905.
Rouart, Louis. “Collection de Madame Esnault-Pelterie,” pp. 2–21. In: Les Arts, June 1906.
Muther, Richard, ed. Courbet. Berlin: Marquardt, 1908.
Catalogue de tableaux modernes, aquarelles, dessins et pastels […]. Auct. cat., Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 16 May 1908.
Catalogue de tableaux anciens et modernes, composant la Collection de Mme V... [Vermeuler].
Auct. cat., Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 6 May 1909.
Collection de M. R... D... [Reginald David or Davis]. Auct. cat., Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 10 May 1909.
Dorbec, Prosper. “L’exposition des ‘Vingt peintres du XIXe siècle’ à la Galerie Georges Petit,” pp.
11–25. In: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 4, no. 1 (1910).
Duret, Théodore. “Gustave Courbet,” pp. 617–626. In: Kunst und Künstler: Illustrierte Monatsschrift für bildende Kunst und Kunstgewerbe, vol. 9, no. 12 (1911).
Jahrbuch der Bilder- und Kunstblätterpreise. Vols. 1–5/6, 1910–1914/15. Vienna: Franz Malota, 1911–1919.
Catalogue des tableaux modernes […] appartenant à Monsieur X… Auct. Cat., Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 5 March 1912.
Meier-Graefe, Julius. Entwicklungsgeschichte der modernen Kunst. Vol. 1. Munich: Piper, 1914.
Gemälde moderner Meister aus der Sammlung des Herrn Albert Oss und aus norddeutschem Privatbesitz. Auct. cat., F. A. C. Prestel, Frankfurt am Main, 9 March 1914.
Catalogue des Tableaux, Études et Dessins par Gustave Courbet et provenant de son atelier. Auct.
cat., Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 9 July 1919.
Exposition Courbet. Bernheim-Jeune & Cie., Paris, 18–31 July 1919.
Der Cicerone: Halbmonatsschrift für die Interessen des Künstlers. Supplement: Auction results.
Vols. 1919–1930.
Meier-Graefe, Julius. Gustave Courbet. Munich: Piper, 1921.
Exposition de Peinture Française. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle Basel, 8 May–30 June 1921.
Grauthoff, Otto, ed. Gustave Courbet: Im Kampf mit den Dämonen seiner Zeit: Eine Künstlertragödie. Berlin: Eigenbrödler, 1925.
Mühsam, Kurt. Internationales Lexikon der Preise von Gemälden und Handzeichnungen aller Schulen und Länder. Berlin: Reiss, 1925.
Annuaire de la Curiosité des Beaux-Arts et de la Bibliophilie. Vol. 1926.
Querschnitt. Supplement: Auction results. Vols. 1–9/10, August 1926–May/June 1927.
L’Exposition Gustave Courbet. Exh. cat., Palais des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Petit Palais, May–June 1929.
Glaser, Curt. “Die Pariser Courbet-Ausstellung,” pp. 7–15. In: Kunst und Künstler: Illustrierte Monatsschrift für bildende Kunst und Kunstgewerbe, vol. 28, no. 1 (1930).
Kästenbaum, Helene, ed. Internationales Jahrbuch der Gemäldeauktionen für 1930. With an introduction by Hans Tietze. Berlin: Paul Neff, 1930.
Tableaux inconnus de Gustave Courbet. Exh. cat., Galerie Sèvres, Paris, 1930.
Ausstellung Gustave Courbet. Exh. cat., Galerie Wertheim, Berlin, 28 September–26 October 1930.
Courthion, Pierre. Courbet. Paris: Librairie Floury, 1931.
Gemälde alter und neuer Meister aus Privatbesitz. Auct. cat., Dr. Schönemann Kunstauktionshaus, Dusseldorf, 15 October 1932.
Gemälde alter und neuerer Meister: Dabei die Sammlung S. Auct. cat., Rudolph Lepke's Kunst- Auctions-Haus, Berlin, 21 November 1933.
Gemälde, antike Möbel, Antiquitäten, Chinakunst, Tapisserie, Savonnerie- u. Aubusson-Teppiche, persische Teppiche, Stil-Möbel aus dem Besitz K. Auct. cat., Versteigerungshaus Union, Berlin, 31 May 1935.
Annuaire de la Curiosité des Beaux-Arts et de la Bibliophilie. Vol. 1936.
Gustave Courbet. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zurich, 15 December 1935–31 March 1936.
Exhibition of French Masters from Courbet to Seurat. Exh. cat., Jacques Seligmann & Co. Gallery, New York, 22 March–17 April 1937.
Tableaux modernes et du XIXe siècle […] appartenant à M. X… [Mme Esnault Pelterie estate sale].
Auct. cat., Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 4 November 1937.
Léger, Charles. Courbet. Paris: Braun & Cie., 1938.
Tableaux modernes […] [Mme Esnault Pelterie estate sale]. Auct. cat., Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 21 March 1938.
Exposition Gustave Courbet. La Mairie d’Ornans, 23 July–1 October 1939.
Les Ventes de Tableaux, Aquarelles, Gouaches, Dessins, Minitures à l’Hôtel Drouot, Répértoire et prix d’adjudication, Octobre 1940 à Juillet 1941, Paris: L’Archipel 1942.
Les Ventes de Tableaux, Aquarelles, Gouaches, Dessins, Minitures à l’Hôtel Drouot, Répértoire et prix d’adjudication, Septembre 1941 à Juillet 1942, Paris: L’Archipel 1942.
Les Ventes de Tableaux, Aquarelles, Gouaches, Dessins, Minitures à l’Hôtel Drouot, Répértoire et prix d’adjudication, Septembre 1942 à Juillet 1943, Paris: L’Archipel 1943.
Fage, André, ed. Les ventes publiques en France, Répertoire general des prix: 1943–1944. Vol. 1, Tableaux. Paris: Bureau international d’Édition et de Publicité, 1945.
Gustave Courbet: Acht Gemäldewiedergaben: Farbige Künstlermappe 71. Leipzig: Seemann, 1947.
A Loan Exhibition of Gustav Courbet for the Benefit of American Aid to France and the Goddard Neighborhood Center. Wildenstein & Company, New York, 2 December 1948–8 January 1949.
Courbet: Exposition du 130e anniversaire de sa naissance: 10 juin 1819–10 juin 1949. Galerie Daber, Paris, June 1949.
G. Courbet. Exh. cat., Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, November–December 1949.
Kotalik, Jiri. G. Courbet. Prague: Tvar, 1950.
Zahar, Marcel. Gustave Courbet. New York: Harper, 1950.
Exposition Gustave Courbet: 1819–1877. Exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Besançon, 23 August–10 October 1952.
G. Courbet: 10 juin 1819–31 décembre 1877. Exh. cat., Petit Palais, Paris, 1955.
Klingenburg, Karl-Heinz, ed. Gustave Courbet. Berlin: Henschelverlag, 1960.
Courbet dans les collections privées françaises. Exh. cat., Galerie Claude Aubry, Paris, 5 May–25 June 1966.
H. Daumier. Auct. cat., Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 18 March 1988.
Courbet Reconsidered. Exh. cat., The Brooklyn Museum, October 1988–January 1989.
Herding, Klaus. Courbet: To Venture Independence. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.
Laughton, Bruce, “Important French Nineteenth-Century Paintings and Drawings (from the Collection Formed by Madame Esnault-Pelterie),” pp. 8–11. In: Important Nineteenth-Century French Paintings, Drawings and Watercolours […]. Auct. cat., Sotheby’s, London, 3 December 1991.
Courbet: Artiste et promoteur de son œuvre. Exh. cat., Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, 21 November 1998–21 February 1999; Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 25 March–30 May 1999.
Bajou, Valérie. Courbet. Paris: Adam Biro, 2003.
The Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Vol. 4. Paris: Gründ, 2006.
Torres, Félix, and Jacques Villain. Robert Esnault-Pelterie: Du ciel aux étoiles, le genie solitaire.
Bordeaux: Éditions Confluences, 2007.
Dary, Anne. “Gustave Courbet: Portrait de Jean-Paul Mazaroz,” p. 68. In: La Revue des Musées de France: Revue du Louvre, no. 2 (April 2008).
Arnoux, Mathilde, Dominique Font-Réaulx, and Laurence des Cars eds. Courbet à neuf! Actes du colloque international organisé par le musée d'Orsay et le Centre allemand d'histoire de l'art à Paris: 6 and 7 December 2007. Paris: Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme, 2010.
Riat, Georges. Courbet. New York: Parkstone International, 2011.
Gustave Courbet: les années suisses. Exh. cat., Musée Rath and Musées d'Art et d'Histoire de Genève, 5 September 2014–4 January 2015.
Obenaus, Maria. Für die Nation gesichtet? Das “Verzeichnis der national wertvollen Kunstwerke”:
Entstehung, Etablierung und Instrumentalisierung 1919–1945. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016.
Archives de Paris:
D48E3 76. Auctioneer Paul Chevalier, Vente Mazaroz-Ribalier, 13–14 May 1890 [file missing]
Archives Départementales, Hauts-de-Seine Archiv Museum Oskar Reinhart, Winterthur Archives Nationales, Paris
Archiv des Württembergischen Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege, Tübingen Bibliothèque de Genève, Geneva
Bildarchiv Foto Marburg (Bildindex)
Cultural Plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg: Database of Art Objects at the Jeu de Paume
Database “Central Collecting Point München”
Database “Kunstsammlung Hermann Göring”
Database “Sammlung Sonderauftrag Linz”
Getty Provenance Index, German Sales Catalogs
Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (Knoedler Gallery Archiv)
Heidelberger Digitale Bibliothek (Auktionskataloge; Heidelberger Historische Bestände) Institut national d’histoire de l’art, Paris, Bibliothèque numérique
Landesarchiv Berlin (Records of the Amt für Wiedergutmachung) Lootedart.com
Lost Art
Musée Gustave Courbet, Ornans
Musée d’Orsay, Paris (Documentation de la conservation) Musée du Louvre, Documentation générale, Paris
Musée Unterlinden, Colmar
National Archives, College Park, Maryland Philadelphia Museum of Art (Archive)
Répertoire des Biens Spoliés
Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague Smithsonian Institution, Washington, Germain Seligman files Verzeichnis national wertvoller Kunstwerke (“Reichsliste von 1938”) Wildenstein Institute, Paris
Witt Library, London
Note:
Courbet is known to have painted a famous portrait of the philosopher Jean Journet (1799 Carcassone–1861 Toulouse), a follower of the utopian socialist Charles Fourier, who spent some twenty years pursuing the independent, vagabond life of the bohemian.
The work discovered in Salzburg differs from the historic photographs, suggesting that the painting was extensively reworked. According to latest comparisons and investigations into the reworked areas, it seems likely that the present item is in fact the true original.
The formerly lost portrait was last known in the collection of Jean-Paul Mazaroz (1823–1900), a maker of fine furniture who co-owned the company Mazaroz-Ribalier. Mazaroz befriended Courbet when both were students at the École des Beaux-Arts, and owned several works by the artist. The collection was disseminated in 1890.
The painting of Jean Journet is said to have subsequently passed to Gabrielle Esnault-Pelterie (1853–1936), née Testart, a collector of French nineteenth-century art. The corresponding entry in the catalogue raisonné by Fernier could however not be verified to this date.
Per the handwritten annotation on verso (“D1421”), this work is believed to have originated with the art dealer Raphaël Gerard of Paris. It remains unclear when the work was in Gerard’s possession and if Hildebrand Gurlitt acquired it directly from him.
The personal papers found in Cornelius Gurlitt’s Salzburg home include a collection of about 2,400 photographs of artworks. Photograph no. 17.1_F1723 is a reproduction of this work; inscribed on verso, references to the extant literature on Jean Journet. Several interior shots of the Gurlitt family residence in Dusseldorf, dating from early 1965, show the artwork on display.
Rights:
All rights to this report belong to the German Lost Art Foundation under whose administration the Gurlitt Provenance Research Project operates.
Disclaimer:
The Gurlitt Provenance Research Project, as the successor to the Task Force Schwabing Art Trove, focused exclusively on the provenance of the artwork described in this report. This report does not purport to make pronouncements on any legal claims and legal positions. Where individuals are referred to as descendants, this term is not legally binding. No liability will be accepted for conclusions drawn by third parties based on this report.
The Gurlitt Provenance Research Project endeavoured to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information provided in this report. No liability will be accepted, in particular, for the accuracy of the used sources; the facts, analyses and conclusions contained therein; the exhaustiveness of research and evaluation of the available source material; any analyses or conclusions drawn from the sources in the course of research; the findings on the subject of the report and how they were derived; the authenticity of the artwork, its attribution to a particular artist, and/or its monetary value.
The conclusions drawn in this report may be revised, should additional relevant material be discovered. The Gurlitt Provenance Research Project welcomes any information that may augment or clarify the provenance of this work.
