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At the Fountain

about 1869
Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas
Dimensions181.6 x 120.0 cm (71 1/2 x 47 1/4 in.)
Credit LineRobert Dawson Evans Collection
Accession number17.3228
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPaintings
Collections
Description
Puvis de Chavannes was widely known for his large-scale murals on classical themes, which decorated public buildings throughout France. He frequently produced smaller-scale "reductions" such as "At the Fountain," which is based on a mural at the museum in Amiens. As a result of his international fame, Puvis was commissioned in 1891 to decorate the main stairwell of the recently completed Boston Public Library in Copley Square.
InscriptionsLower left: P. Puvis de Chavannes
ProvenanceBy 1894, Durand-Ruel, New York; 1895, sold by Durand-Ruel to Mrs. Samuel Dennis Warren (Susan Cornelia Clarke Warren) (b. 1825 - d. 1901), Boston [see note 1]; January 8, 1903, Warren sale, American Art Galleries, New York, no. 121, to Robert Dawson Evans (b. 1843 - d. 1909) and his wife, Maria Antoinette Hunt Evans (b. 1845 - d. 1917), Boston; 1917, bequest of Mrs. Robert Dawson Evans to the MFA. (Accession Date: November 1, 1917)

NOTES:
[1] Lent by Mrs. Warren in 1895 to the MFA for an exhibition featuring the work of Puvis de Chavannes, no. 5.
Pierre Cécile Puvis de Chavannes
Pierre Cécile Puvis de Chavannes
Pierre Cécile Puvis de Chavannes
Pierre Cécile Puvis de Chavannes
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Pierre Cécile Puvis de Chavannes
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