Mary Magdalene|Honoré Daumier |Search Collection | The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 16 October 2025

Currently not on display

Share
×
Enlarge
Zoom
Print

Currently not on display

Honoré Daumier

Marseille, 1808 - Valmondois, 1879

Mary Magdalene

Date	c. 1849-50
Materials and Techniques	oil on canvas
Size（cm）	41 x 33
Inscriptions	Signed lower left: hD
Credit Line	Purchased
Standard ref.	Maison I-29
Category	Paintings
Collection Number	P.1979-0006

Mary Magdalene, a female figure in the New Testament, was a prostitute who repented after meeting Jesus — a theme popularly depicted in paintings. This work was a study for a large painting that Daumier had been scheduled to do, but never actually did, for a church. The contrast between light and dark and the brushwork that characterize Daumier's work are clearly recongnizable in this study piece. (Source: The Digital Gallery. 1999-2006)

Provenance

Francois Cavé, Paris; Bequeathed to his wife, Marie-Erizabethe Cavé, Paris, 1852; By inheritance to her son Albert Boulanger-Cavé, Paris, until 1911; By inheritance to Gaston Le Roy, Paris; Auc. Gaston Le Roy, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 19-20 May 1926, no. 43; H. Fiquet, Paris; Alfred Gold, Berlin; Heinemann Coll.; Violet de Laszlo, New York; Auc., Sotheby’s, London, 31 March 1965, no. 90; Private Coll., Switzerland; Wildenstein & Co., by which sold to the NMWA, 1980.

Exhibition History

1930: Meisterwerke deutscher und französischer Malerei des 19. Jahrhunderts, Kunstverein, Düsseldorf, 0 April 1930 - 0 April 1930
1930: Corot-Daumier, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 16 October 1930 - 23 November 1930, cat. p. 32, no. 59, pl. 59
1932: Die Sammlung Oskar Schmitz, Kunsthaus Zürich, 0 1932 - 0 1932, cat. no. 76
1933: L'Art français: Peinture de XIXe siècle, E. J. Wisselingh & Co., Amsterdam, 7 January 1933 - 4 February 1933, cat. no. 6, pl. 6
1936: Daumier: Paintings, Drawings, Lithographs, Leicester Galleries, London, 0 1936 - 0 1936, cat. p. 11, no. 89
1938: Tableaux et dessins: Quelques maîtres du 18e et 19e siècle, Durand-Ruel, Paris, 0 1938 - 0 1938
1943: , Kunstmuseum, Lucerne, 0 1943 - 0 1943
1991: The Image of Human Body in the Past and Present, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, 19 October 1991 - 1 December 1991, cat. no. Ⅰ-14, col. repr.
1997: Expressiveness of Materials, National Museum of Art, Osaka, 17 April 1997 - 22 June 1997, cat. no. 8
2014: Voices Calling from the Unusual: Hirano Keiichiro's Selection of Western Art Masterpieces, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 8 April 2014 - 15 June 2014, cat. no. 23

Bibliography

1926: Dimier, Louis. Tableaux qui passent. Gazette des Beaux-Arts. ser. 5, tome 14. December 1926, pp. 364, 366, repr.
1928: Alexandre, Arsène. Le mysticisme de Daumier. Le Figaro supplement artistique hebdomadaire. vol. 5, no. 193, June 7, 1928, p. 542, repr.
1928: The Art News. vol. 26, no. 26, March 1928, p. 1, repr.
1930: Fuchs, Eduard. Der Maler Daumier (Nachtrag). 2nd ed., München, 1930, p. 63, no. 297, pl. 297.
1930: Pène du Bois, G. Corot and Daumier. The Arts. vol. 17, no. 2, Nov. 1930, p. 87, repr.
1930: Cohen, K. Meisterwerke deutscher und französischer Malerei im Kunstverein zu Düsseldorf. Kunst und Künstler. vol. 28. Apr. 1930, p. 294, repr.
1930: Maynard, J. Cent ans de peinture française et allemande: une exposition franco-allemand à Düsseldorf. L'Art Vivant. vol. 6, no. 124, 1930, p. 162.
1934: Daumier: peintures, aquarelles, dessins (exh. cat.). Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 1934, pp. 21-22 (cited in introduction by Claude Roger-Marx).
1938: Lassaigne, Jaques. A travers les galeries. L'Amour de l'Art. vol. 19, no. 6, July 1938, p. 259.
1938: Lassaigne, Jaques. Daumier. Paris, 1938, p. 167, no. 121, repr.
1938: Roger-Marx, Claude. Daumier. Paris, 1938, pp. 52-53.
1946: Lassaigne, Jaques. Daumier. Paris, 1946, p. 23, repr.
1948: Roger-Marx, Claude. Universalité de Daumier. Arts et Livres de Provence: Bulletin de la Revue. no. 8, 1948, p. 20
1953: Lejeune, Robert. Honoré Daumier. Lausanne, 1953, p. 228.
1953: Schweicher, Curt. Daumier. Paris, 1953, p. 8, pl. 64.
1954: Roger-Marx, Claude. Maîtres du XIXe du XXe siècle. Genève, 1954, p. 66.
1954: Adhémar, Jean. Daumier: Dessins et aquarelles. Paris, n. d., p. 5.
1954: Adhémar, Jean. Honoré Daumier. Paris, 1954, pp. 38, 44-45, 78, 89, 106, 118, no. 51, pl. 51.
1965: Escholier, Raymond. Daumier et son monde. Nancy, 1965, p. 171.
1965: Jullian, R. Sur la chronologie de quelques peintures de Daumier. Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français. 1965, pp. 224-225.
1966: Larkin. Oliver W. Daumier: Man of his Time. New York; Toronto; London, 1966, pp. 86-87, 134, 227, 230.
1968: Maison, Karl Eric. Honoré Daumier: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings. vol. 1, London, 1968, pp. 67-68, no. I - 29, pl. 5, repr.
1971: Barzini, Luigi; Mandel, Gabriele. L'opera pittorica completa di Daumier. Milano, 1971, no. 38, repr.
1973: Clark, Timothy J. The Absolute Bourgeois: Artists and Politics in France 1848-1851. London, 1973, pp. 108-109, 111-114, fig. 79.
1981: Annual Bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 14 (1979), 1981, New Acquisitions (Painting). pp. 7, 13, New Acquisitions (Catalogue). pp. 18-19, repr.
1983: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1983 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 39, repr.
1990: Catalogue of painting acquisitions: 1979-1989. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1990, pp. 23-25, repr.
1991: The Image of Human Body in the Past and Present (exh. cat.). Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, ed. [Shizuoka], Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, 1991 , pp. 37, 174-175, 232, cat. no. 1-14, col. repr.
2014: Voices Calling from the Unusual: Hirano Keiichiro's Selection of Western Art Masterpieces (exh. cat.). Watanabe, Shinsuke, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; The Western Art Foundation, 2014, pp. 20, 53, 73, cat. no. 23, col. repr.

Page top