Updated 17 April 2025
On Display Permanent collection
On Display
Fox Caught in a Trap
| Date | 1860 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | oil on canvas |
| Size（cm） | 81.5 x 100.5 |
| Inscriptions | Signed lower left: G. Courbet. |
| Credit Line | Matsukata Collection |
| Standard ref. | Fernier 264; M330 |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1959-0061 |
Courbet was one of the most rebellious of the French painters of the 19th century. In the 1860s and thereafter, however, he gained widespread popularity with his realistic portrayals of landscapes and hunting scenes. This vividly rendered winter hunting scene, in which Courbet has recreated the texture and dimensionality of the snow through skillful use of his palette knife rather than depicting it as a flat white mass, is one example of the unique repertoire of this artist, who himself was fond of hunting. (Source: The Digital Gallery. 1999-2006)
Provenance
Klotz, 1900; Henri Menier; sale, Mrs. X... (Mrs. Menier), Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 5 March 1914, lot 1, where purchased Galerie Georges Bernheim, Paris; purchased from the above by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe, ca. November 1921 (Fr. 70,000) [see letter from Georges Bernheim to Léonce Bénédite, dated 17 November 1921, in the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux, Paris (copy in NMWA curatorial file)]; sequestered by French government, 1944; vested in French government under San Francisco Peace Treaty, 1952; transferred from French to Japanese government, 23 January 1959; entered into NMWA, April 1959.
Exhibition History
- 1889
- Centennale de l'art français, Paris, 0 1889 - 0 1889, cat. no. 146
- 1929
- Gustasve Courbet, Petit Palais, Paris, 0 1929 - 0 1929, cat. no. 124
- 1950
- Gustave Courbet, La Tour-de-Peilz, 0 1950 - 0 1950, cat. no. 34
- 1952
- Gustave Courbet, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon, 0 1952 - 0 1952, cat. no. 36
- 1976
- Millet, Corot, Courbet et l'École de Barbizon, Musée Départemental d'Art Tochigi, Utsunomiya, 20 November 1976 - 24 December 1976, cat. no. 66, repr.
- 1989
- Gustave Courbet, Bridgestone Museum of Art, 3 June 1989 - 6 August 1989, cat. no. 20, col. repr.
- 1991
- , The Urasoe Art Museum, 1 February 1991 - 31 March 1991, cat. no. 3, col. repr.
- 1993
- The Painters of Barbizon and Japan, Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, 24 July 1993 - 29 August 1993, Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art, 4 September-11 October 1993, cat. no. 23, col. repr.
- 1996
- The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art from the Collections of The National Museum of Western Art & The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 20 July 1996 - 8 September 1996, cat. no. 88
- 2015
- Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 8 October 2015 - 21 February 2016, cat. no. 48, col. repr.
Bibliography
- 1955
- La Collection Matsukata, Tokyo, Asahi- Shimbun, 1955 (Japanese), repr. p. 2.
- 1961
- Catalogue du Musée National d'Art Occidental, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1961 (Préface and Catalogue Général in Japanese and French), P-85.
- 1969
- Fernier, R. Gustave Courbet, peintre de l'art vivant. Paris, 1969, repr. p. 97, no. 88.
- 1971
- Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 18, repr.
- 1975
- Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 28, repr.
- 1977
- Fernier, R. La vie et l'œuvre de Gustave Courbet. tome 1, Lausanne/Paris, 1977, p. 160, no. 264, repr.
- 1978
- Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1978 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 35, repr.
- 1979
- The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of Paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 73, repr.
- 1989
- Catalogue de l'exposition Gustave Courbet (exh. cat.). Bridgestone Museum of Art, Ishibashi Foundation, ed. [Tokyo], Japan Broadcasting Corporation, 1989, pp. 68, 132, cat. no. 20, col. repr.
- 1990
- The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 490.
- 1991
- Europe Kindai Kaiga no Nagare: Millet kara Picasso e (exh. cat.). Endo, Norie, ed. [Urazoe], The Urazoe Art Museum Kaikan 1shunen Kinen Tokubetsuten Jikkoiinkai, 1991, pp. 21, 80-81, cat. no. 3, col. repr.
- 1993
- The Painters of Barbizon and Japan (exh. cat.). Executive Committee of the Painters of Barbizon and Japan, ed. [Yamanashi], Executive Committee of the Painters of Barbizon and Japan, 1993, pp. 53, 187, cat. no. 23. col. repr.
- 2015
- Japan's Love for Impressionism: From Monet to Renoir (exh. cat.). Marks-Hanssen, Beate, ed. Bonn, Bundeskunsthalle, 2015, pp. 83, 245, cat. no. 48, col. repr.
- 2018
- The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 1: Paintings, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2018, cat. no. 330, col. repr.