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Alfred Stevens
Belgian, 1823–1906
The Visit
c. 1870
A woman wearing a luxurious dressing gown sits on a velvet sofa and leans on a mahlstick, an implement used by painters to steady the hand. Her visitor, still wearing a hat and shawl, examines the painting on the easel. Surrounding them are Japanese fans, ceramics, screens, and lacquered boxes that were considered very fashionable among the upper classes in nineteenth-century France.
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
25 1/2 x 18 5/8 in. (64.7 x 47.3 cm)
Object Number
1955.861
Acquisition
Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status
On View
Image Caption
Alfred Stevens, The Visit, c. 1870, oil on panel. Clark Art Institute, 1955.861
Select Bibliography
Paris.. Exposition Universelle.. 1878..
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.. The William H. Vanderbilt Collection of Modern Paintings, extended loan from George W. Vanderbilt, May 1, 1902-1919.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.. Exhibit Thirteen: Alfred Stevens, Belgian, 1823-1906.. August 1960..
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.. In the Studio: The Making of Art in 19th-Century France, Sept. 12-Oct. 25, 1981. Cat. by David B. Cass.
Interventions: Griselda Pollock Looks at Alfred Stevens, Oct. 21, 2000-April 8, 2001. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2000. Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name, shown at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.
Shinn, Earl. The Art Treasures of America. Edited by Earl Shinn. Philadelphia: George Barrie, 1879-80.
Debosc de Pessquidoux.. L'Art dans les deux mondes.. Paris: E. Plon.. 1881..
Edward Strahan (Earl Shin).. Mr. Vanderbilt's House and Collection as Described by Edward Strahan.. Boston: George Barrie.. 1883-84..
. Catalogue of the William H. Vanderbilt Collection of Paintings. New York: DeVinne Press. 1886.
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.. Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Illustrated Catalogue.. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.. 1905..
François Boucher.. Alfred Stevens.. Paris: Editions Rieder.. 1930..
Gustav Vanzype.. Les Frères Stevens.. Brussels: Nouvelle Société d'Editions.. 1936..
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972.
London: John Mitchell & Sons.. Alfred Emile Leopold Stevens, 1823-1906, exh. cat. by Peter Mitchell.. May 9-June 6, 1973..
Lucie-Smith, Edward and Celestine Dars. How the Rich Lived: The Painter as Witness 18701914. London: Paddington Press, 1976.
Coles, William A. Alfred Stevens. Sept. 10-Oct. 16, 1977; Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Nov. 20, 1977-Jan. 1, 1978; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Feb. 2-March 19, 1978. Ann Arbor (MI): University of Michigan Museum of Art. 1977.
Norman, Geraldine. Nineteenth-Century Painters and Painting: A Dictionary. London: Thames & Hudson, 1977.
Sadakichi Hartmann; ed. by Harry W. Lawton & George Knox.. The Valiant Knights of Daguerre.. Berkeley: University of California Press.. 1978..
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984.
Robert Rosenblum and H. W. Janson.. 19th-Century Art.. New York: Abrams.. 1984..
Henry James.. The Portrait of a Lady. The Great Writers: Their Lives, Works, and Inspiration.. London: Marshall Cavendish Partworks.. 1986/87..
Peter H. Feist.. Impressionismus: Die Entdeckung der Freizeit.. Leipzig: E. A. Seeman Verlag.. 1933..
Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992.
International Fine Arts Exhibitions.. Palm Beach International Art and Antique Fair Catalogue, 1998.
John Stomberg. Looking East: Brice Marden, Michael Mazur, Pat Steir. Boston: Boston University Art Gallery. 2002.
Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.
[Vander Donckt frères, Paris, in 1878, probably sold to Vanderbilt]; William H. Vanderbilt, New York (1878–d. 1885); George Washington Vanderbilt, his son, by descent (1885–d. 1914);¹ Cornelius Vanderbilt III, his nephew, by descent (1914–d. 1942); Grace Wilson Vanderbilt, his wife, by descent (1942–45, her sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, 18 Apr. 1945, no. 148, ill., as The Morning Call); [Knoedler, New York, sold to Clark, 20 April 1945]; Robert Sterling Clark (1945–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.
1. George Washington Vanderbilt placed this and a number of other works on long-term loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1886. The works were returned to his nephew in 1919.
