Nineteenth-Century French Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum
Jon Whiteley
Format:
Hardback with jacket
Publication Date:
13 September 2022
ISBN:
978-1-9163474-2-7
Dimensions:
376 pages: 292 x 241 mm
Illustrations:
200 colour images
The only complete catalogue of French paintings of the period in the Ashmolean Museum, this comprehensive and scholarly study explores their rich collection of nineteenth-century French art. Continuing a convention set by earlier Ashmolean catalogues that mirrors the concept of the long nineteenth century, the book defines nineteenth-century French artists as those born between 1775 and 1875. Stretching into the twentieth century, it covers a fascinating range of paintings including works by Louis-Léopold Boilly, Camille, Lucien, and Félix Pissarro, Henri Fantin-Latour, Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, and Henri Matisse.
The catalogue was compiled by the late distinguished art historian Jon Whiteley. In each entry, Whiteley draws upon his encyclopaedic knowledge of French art and the Ashmolean holdings. Provenance, literature, and exhibition history are recorded as well as extensive technical notes and information on frames. The entries on each work are accompanied by new, high-quality photography and comparative images, resulting in a complete and thorough documentation of this important part of the Ashmolean collection of Western art, providing an informative contribution to existing scholarship.
Jon Whiteley (1945–2020) was an art historian, Emeritus Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford, and Assistant Keeper in the Department of Western Art the Ashmolean Museum from 1972. He wrote widely on many aspects of European art but particularly that of France, including books on Lorrain, Ingres and Pissarro. He previously catalogued the Ashmolean’s entire holdings of French drawings. His dedication to French art was recognised by the French government, who appointment him Chevalier de l’Ordre des Artes et des Lettres in 2009. The present catalogue was his final work, finished just before his death in 2020.