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The Meeting of Orestes and Hermione
About the Artwork
When the French painter Jacques-Louis David was approached to work on a new edition of Jean Racine’s plays, he passed the task to his pupil Girodet, who excelled at illustrating literature. This highly refined drawing depicts a scene from Racine’s Andromaque, a complicated story of unrequited love and political treachery. Cléone introduces the love-blind Orestes to Hermione, who exploits his affection to make him do her bidding. Girodet skillfully contrasts Orestes’s eagerness and Hermione’s calculating character. With folded arms, she turns away, as if a statue between the columns of a cool marble interior. Yet Hermione’s sly, backward glance alerts the viewer of her cunning manipulation, which eventually drives Orestes mad.
Inscriptions
signed, lower left, in brown ink: ALG [artist’s monogram] / INV.; lower left, in black chalk: A L GIRODET INV.
Provenance
?-?: Pierre Didot l’Ainé [1760–1853], Paris, given with other drawings in vellum edition to his brother, Firmin Didot ?-1810: Firmin Didot [1764–1836], Paris 1810: (his sale, De Bure, Paris, 1810, no. 679 [withdrawn from sale]) 1810-by 1947: Didot family collection, Paris ?-1989: Frederick J. Cummings [1933–1990], New York 1989: (W. M. Brady & Co. Inc., New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1989-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
The Year in Review for 1989. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 6-April 15, 1990). Directions in Drawing: 1750-1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991). Visions of Antiquity: Neoclassical Figure Drawing. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (July 22-September 19, 1993); Philadelphia Museum of Art (October 30, 1993-January 2, 1994); Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (February 6-April 3, 1994). French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995). Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). Girodet: Romantic Rebel. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France (September 19, 2005-January 2, 2006); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (May 22-August 27, 2006). Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014). Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016). Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-June 11, 2023).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson (French, 1767–1824)
- Date
- c. 1800
- Medium
- pen and brown and black ink, point of brush and brown and gray wash, with black chalk and graphite, heightened with white gouache, on cream wove paper
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 28.5 x 21.8 cm (11 1/4 x 8 9/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1989.101
More by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson in museum collections
Portrait of the Katchef Dahouth, Christian Mameluke
Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson1804 · Painting
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00010978
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