Madame Pauline-Marie-Charlotte Carolus-Duran (1839–1912)

Artist Charles-Émile-Auguste Durand, known as Carolus-Duran French, 1838–1917

Date1885

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions39 1/2 x 27 3/4 in. (100.3 x 70.5 cm)
Frame: 48 1/4 x 36 1/2 in. (122.6 x 92.7 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina and the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest) in honor of Zoë Strawn Webster

Object number83.6

On View

Not on view

Label TextCarolus-Duran (born Charles-Émile-Auguste Durant) was one of Paris's most celebrated society portrait painters. Trips to Italy and Spain early in his career resulted in his becoming a pioneering admirer of Velázquez, whose bravura technique he integrated into his renderings of the lavish garments of his fashionable sitters. In 1873 he opened a studio, where he emphasized the importance of painting, rejecting the prevailing curriculum of the official École des Beaux-Arts, which stressed the importance of drawing as the foundation of art. His prize pupil was the American John Singer Sargent, whose technique and approach to portraiture are profoundly indebted to his teacher.

Pauline-Marie-Charlotte Croizette Carolus-Duran was the daughter of a dancer at the St. Petersburg Opera. She exhibited several pastel portraits at the annual Paris Salon between 1864 and 1875, winning a medal in the latter year. She married Carolus-Duran in 1868.
[D. Steel, date unknown]ProvenanceThe artist; Feydeau family (Carolus-Duran's daughter, Marianne, married playwright Georges Feydeau [1862-1921]); Wheelock Whitney & Co., New York; sold to NCMA, 1983.
Published ReferencesNineteenth Century French Paintings (exhibition catalogue) (New York: Wheelock Whitney & Co., 1983), no. 26.

La Chronique des Arts (supplement to the Gazette des Beaux-Arts) no. 1382 (March 1984), 60.

Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 143.
Exhibition HistoryNew York, NY, Wheelock Whitney & Co., “Nineteenth Century French Paintings,” February-March 1983, no. 26.

Hickory, NC, The Hickory Museum of Art, “Beyond Likeness: Contemporary Considerations of the Portrait,” November 1-December 31, 1997; Wilmington, NC, St. John’s Museum of Art, April 30-June 28, 1998; Fayetteville, NC, Fayetteville Museum of Art, July 11-August 30, 1998; Asheville, NC, Asheville Art Museum, September 17, 1998-January 2, 1999; Greenville, NC, Greenville Museum of Art, January 14-February 28, 1999, brochure. (Outreach exhibition)
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