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Hercules and the Hydra of Lerna
Inscriptions
Inscribed lower left: "l'hydra"
Provenance
Gustave Duruflé (1834–1909), Paris [invoice and Mathieu 1976]. Georges Wildenstein (1892–1963), Paris; confiscated by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (E.R.R.), before January 15, 1943 [January 15, 1943 is the date the drawing was entered into the E.R.R.’s records at the Jeu de Paume Museum in Paris; see ERR card W162]; recovered by the American Forces’ Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Service (M.F.A.A.) and processed at the Munich Central Art Collecting Point, June 27, 1945 [Central Collecting Point card]; repatriated to France, October 10, 1946 and restituted to Georges Wildenstein (date unknown) [Central Collecting Point card; Cultural Plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg: Database of Art Objects at the Jeu de Paume (on-line)]; by descent to his son, Daniel Wildenstein (1917–2001), 1963–at least 1976 [Mathieu, 1976]. Sold by Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris, to the Art Institute, 1983.
Exhibition history
Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, "Exposition Gustave Moreau," 1906, cat. 45. New York, Museum of Modern Art, "Odilon Redon, Gustave Moreau, Rodolphe Bresdin," December 4, 1961- February 4, 1962, cat. 198; traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, March 2, 1962-April 15, 1962. Tokyo, Fujikawa Gallery, "Gustave Moreau, Antoine Bourdelle," November 1974; traveled to Osaka, the Fujikawa Gallery; and Kobe, the Fujikawa Gallery. The Art Institute of Chicago, "Great Drawings from The Art Institute of Chicago: The Harold Joachim Years 1958-1983," July 24-September 30, 1985, pp. 144-145, cat. 65 (ill.), cat. by Martha Tedeschi. The Art Institute of Chicago, "Acquisitions in the Regenstein Collection 1974-1989." February 2-May 8, 1990. Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, "Gustave Moreau (1826-1898)," September 28, 1998-January 4, 1999, cat. 58-4; traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, February 10-April 25, 1999; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, June 7-September 9, 1999.
Publications
Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau: Sa vie, Son Oeuvre, Catalogue Raisonné de l'Oeuvre Achevé (Boston, 1976), p. 321, no. 154 (ill.). "Maineri to Miró: The Regenstein Collection Since 1975," The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 26 (2000), pp. 76-77 (ill.) Suzanne Folds McCullagh, “'A Lasting Monument:’ The Regenstein Collection at The Art Institute of Chicago," The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, 26 1 (2000), p. 13.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Gustave Moreau / French, 1826-1898
- Date
- c. 1876
- Medium
- Pen and brown and black ink and graphite, with touches of brush and brown wash, heightened with lead white, discolored, on cream laid paper prepared with a pale brown wash, tipped on blue laid paper, laid down on cream board
- Dimensions
- 18.3 × 15.8 cm (7 1/4 × 6 1/4 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- pen and ink drawings
- Place
- France
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Credit line
- Purchased with funds provided by the Joseph and Helen Regenstein Foundation
- Accession no.
- 1983.281
More by Gustave Moreau in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00004443
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