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Pediment of the Pantheon, Paris

Pediment of the Pantheon, Paris

(French, 1788–1870)
(French, 1788–1856)
1838
Place DepictedParis
Medium/TechniqueEngraving
DimensionsFramed: 55.9 x 92.1 x 2.5 cm (22 x 36 1/4 x 1 in.)
Credit LineGift of Dr. Ange Guépin
Accession numberM1
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPrints
Description
This was the very first print to be acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, in 1872. It must have seemed appropriate that the collection, which it was hoped would someday capture the full range of artistic creativity in Europe and the Americas, be inaugurated with a depiction of the sculptures of the Panthéon, the French national temple to human achievement.
InscriptionsIn graphite, lower right: à mon cher ami le Docteur Guepin / son tout devoir de Sympathie et de coeur / P. J. David D'Angers In ink, on a card mounted on the print's mat: PEDIMENT OF THE PANTHEON / Etched, and finished with the graver, by Jean-Marie Le Roux, after the high relief executed by David d'Angers, in 1837. / This print, presented by Dr. Ange Guépin, January 22nd 1872, constituted the entire collection until 1874, when the / Bequest of Charles Sumner swelled the number to eighty-five prints. / Forty years later, in 1914, the Prints contained in the Museum collection number over eighty thousand.
ProvenanceGift of the artist to Dr. Ange Guépin; January 22, 1872, gift of Dr. Guépin, through Mrs. S. R. Putnam, to the MFA.