Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009726Midnight
About the Artwork
This painting depicts Abbeville, a city in northern France famous for its canals and architecture. It lies near the seaport of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Cazin's hometown and where he spent the last decades of his life painting the countryside, beaches, and nearby towns. Cazin specialized in landscapes, often influenced by his knowledge of English and Dutch painters. The title, Midnight, and the image itself suggest silence and stillness—Cazin's hallmarks—but only rarely did he attain this almost surrealistic atmosphere. Cazin was educated in Paris at the famous Ecole Gratuite de Dessins (Free School of Drawing), an innovative and unorthodox institution teaching drawing from memory. He studied there with fellow artists Henri Fantin-Latour (1836–1904), Auguste Rodin (1840–1917), and Alphonse Legros (1837–1911). They all shared an interest in Symbolism—the movement that sees symbols in reality and perceives reality through symbols.
Inscriptions
Signed lower right: j. c. cazin. 91
Provenance
Shipped with two other works by Cazin from Knoedler Paris to the branch in New York, 16 May 1891 (stock number 6834), as "Night with Stars." Sold 12 November 1891 to R. K. McNeely, Philadelphia, as "Night," (Cazin's Studio). (Sales book no. 6, p. 314). Charles T. Yerkes, Philadelphia and Chicago, by 1893. New York sale, Estate of Mary Adelaide Yerkes, American Art Association, 19-20 February 1912 (lot 142, repr.), as "Moonlight at Midnight." Edward S. Harkness, Cleveland, OH. Donated to the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1923.
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Jean-Charles Cazin (French, 1841–1901)
- Date
- 1891
- Medium
- oil on fabric
- Dimensions
- Framed: 113 x 112.4 x 11.4 cm (44 1/2 x 44 1/4 x 4 1/2 in.); Unframed: 88 x 89 cm (34 5/8 x 35 1/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- The Charles W. Harkness Gift
- Accession no.
- 1923.602
More by Jean Charles Cazin in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009726
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