Updated 10 April 2025
On Display Permanent collection
On Display
The Education of the Virgin
| Date | 1852 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | oil on canvas |
| Size（cm） | 46 x 55.5 |
| Inscriptions | Signed lower right: Eug. Delacroix |
| Credit Line | Transferred from the Tokyo National Museum |
| Standard ref. | Robaut 1193; Johnson 461 |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1970-0001 |
In 1842 Delacroix visited the home of the famous female novelist, George Sand, and used Sand's farm wife and her daughter as models for the oil painting of The Education of the Virgin, the scene where St. Anne teaches the Virgin how to read the Old Testament. This work depicting the same subject on a smaller scale was painted ten years later. Here the artist has emphasized the landscape more than in the former work, and has added a dog to the image. Generally Delacroix is best remembered for his large-scale paintings filled with dramatic action and brilliant colors and thus it is assumed that such images reflect his character. Quiet nocturnal works, such as this painting, illustrate yet another aspect of his diverse arts. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.58)
Provenance
M. Bischoffsheim; Zen'ichiro Hara, Japan; Tokyo National Museum,1947, from which transferred to the NMWA.
Exhibition History
- 1947
- Masterpieces of the Western art, Tokyo National Museum, 15 October 1947 - 15 November 1947
- 1957
- Seiyo Bijutsu Meisaku Ten (Masterpieces of European Art), Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, 1 February 1957 - 24 March 1957, cat. no. 118, col. repr.
- 1985
- Permanent exhibition, Ohara Museum of Art, 20 March 1985 - 20 July 1985
- 1997
- Expressiveness of Materials, National Museum of Art, Osaka, 17 April 1997 - 22 June 1997, cat. no. 1
- 2015
- NO MUSEUM, NO LIFE?: Art-Museum Encyclopedia to Come: From the Collections of the National Museums of Art, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 16 June 2015 - 13 September 2015, cat. no. E-28
- 2017
- [Traveling Exhibitions Presenting National Art Museum Collections, Fiscal 2017] Muse: Women before the Artists' Eyes: From the Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, 22 April 2017 - 2 July 2017, Akita Museum of Modern Art, 15 July-18 September, cat. no. 13
Bibliography
- 1885
- Robaut, Alfred. L'œuvre complet de Eugène Delacroix. Paris, Charavay Fréres, 1885, p. 319, no. 1193 (cf. p. 201, no. 752).
- 1925
- Dorbec, Prosper. Le paysage dans l'œuvre d'Eugène Delacroix. Gazette des Beaux-Arts. ser. 5, tome 11, 1925, p. 143, repr., p. 139.
- 1929
- Escholier, Raymond. Delacroix: peintre, graveur, écrivain. [vol. 3], Paris, Foury, 1929, p. 188, repr., [n. p.] (opposite of p. 176).
- 1948
- Seiyo bijutsu meisaku syu. Tokyo, Asahi Shimbun Sha, 1948, no. 4
- 1949
- Kojima, Kikuo. On a Few Exhibits at the Special Exhibition of Western Art National Museum. The bijutsu kenkyu : the journal of art studies. Vol. 154, May 1949, pp. 1-6, repr. [Reprinted in Kojima, Kikuo. Chopin no Syozo. Tokyo, Iwanami shoten, 1984, pp. 27-38]
- 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), D-2.
- 1969
- Robaut, Alfred; Chesneau, Ernest. L'œuvre complet de Eugène Delacroix: peintures, dessins, gravures, lithographies. New York, Da Capo Press, 1969 (1st ed., Paris, 1885), p. 319, no. 1193, repr.
- 1971
- Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 22, repr.
- 1972
- Rossi Bortolatto, Luigina. L'opera pittorica completa di Delacroix. Milano, Rizzoli, 1972, p. 126, no. 668.
- 1975
- Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 21, 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. 27, repr.
- 1979
- The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 80, repr.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 58, col. repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 58, col. repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 74, col. repr.
- 2017
- Muse: Women before the Artists' Eyes: from the Collection of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Traveling Exhibitions Presenting National Art Museum Collections, Fiscal 2017 (exh. cat.). Nakada, Asuka, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2017, pp. 35, 138, cat. no. 13, col. repr.