St. Cecilia|Gustave Moreau |Search Collection | The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 14 May 2025

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Currently not on display

Gustave Moreau

Paris, 1826 - Paris, 1898

St. Cecilia

Date	ca. 1885-90
Materials and Techniques	watercolour and gouache on paper
Size（cm）	16.0 x 19.0
Inscriptions	Signed lower right: Gustave Moreau.
Credit Line	Matsukata Collection
Standard ref.	Mathieu, 1976, 384; Mathieu, 1998, 422; M1702
Category	Drawings
Collection Number	D.1959-0043

Moreau was a painter active during the same period as Manet. Throughout his lifetime he used mythology and the Bible as sources, composing mystical works and exerting a strong influence on the painters and writers of the late nineteenth century. The subject of this work is St. Cecilia, the saint of music, but it is a variation on the satyrs that listen to the songs of poets, which Moreau enjoyed depicting in his later years. The use of both gouache and watercolor creates a vibrant effect. (Source: The Digital Gallery. 1999-2006)

Provenance

Zarifi; Galerie Georges Petit, Paris; purchased from Galerie Georges Petit by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe, 10 November 1921 (Fr. 5.000) [see duplicate receipt from Galerie Georges Petit to Kojiro Matsukata, 10 November 1921; copy in NMWA curatorial files; KH]; 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

1964: Gustave Moreau, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 26 November 1964 - 31 January 1965, cat. no. 142
1995: Gustave Moreau, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 21 March 1995 - 14 May 1995, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, cat. no. 87, col. repr.
1997: Resonating Love and Life: European Art from National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Nagaoka, 12 April 1997 - 18 May 1997, cat. no. 17
1998: Gustave Moreau: 1826-1898, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 29 September 1998 - 4 January 1999, The Art Institute of Chicago, 13 February-25 April
2001: French Masterpiece Drawings from The National Museum of Western Art Collection, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 27 March 2001 - 24 June 2001
2017: Théodore Chassériau: parfum exotique, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 28 February 2017 - 28 May 2017, cat. no. 36.
2022: In Dialogue with Nature - from Friedrich, Monet and Van Gogh to Richter, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 4 June 2022 - 11 September 2022, cat. no. 44

Bibliography

1955: La Collection Matsukata. Tokyo, Asahi- Shimbun, 1955 , pl. 27. (in Japanese)
1959: Mizue : a monthly review of the fine arts. no. 651, Special Number, July 1959 (in Japanese)
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-220.
1964: Bessatu Mizue : a monthly review of the fine arts. no. 42, December 1964, p. 37. (in Japanese)
1976: Mathieu, Pierre-Louis. Gustave Moreau, sa vie, son œuvre: catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre achevé. Fribourg, 1976, no. 384.
1989: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1989 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), cat. no. 89.
1990: The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 1088.
1991: Moreau. Tokyo, Asahi-Shimbun, 1991(Asahi Graph Bessatsu Bijutsu Tokushu: Seiyo-hen, vol. 17), no.57. (in Japanese)
1995: Gustave Moreau (exh. cat.). National Museum of Wetsern Art, ed. Tokyo, NHK, 1995, p. 221, cat. no. 87, col. repr.
1997: Resonating Love and Life: European Art from National Museum of Western Art (exh. cat.). The Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, 12 April-18 May 1997. The Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art; National Museum of Western Art, cat. no. 17.
1998: Gustave Moreau 1826-1898 (exh. cat.). Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 29 September 1998 - 4 January 1999; The Art Institute, Chicago, 13 February - 25 April 1999; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 24 May - 22 August 1999. Paris, c1998, cat.　no. 134
2017: Théodore Chassériau: Parfum Exotique (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi; Musée national d'art occidental, Tokyo, eds. Tokyo, Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, 2017, pp. 100, 253, cat. no. 36, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 2: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints and Decorative Arts and Other Works, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2019, cat. no. 1702, col. repr.
2022: In Dialogue with Nature: from Friedrich, Monet and Van Gogh to Richter (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi; Shinfuji, Atsushi; Yomiuri Shimbun, Museum Exhibition Department, eds. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2022, pp. 109, 257, cat. no. 44, col. repr.

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