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The Guilty and Repentant Daughter
Also known as: Old Man Accused of Ruining a Young Girl
About the Artwork
This drawing belongs to a group of highly finished drawings created by Jean-Baptiste Greuze during the 1770s, many of which focused on family crises and were characterized by groups of figures set in shallow interior spaces. Although the precise subject of the work is unknown, it shows a father and his son kneeling before him. The title, which comes from an inscription on the drawing's original frame, refers to the girl entering the room at right, who is presumably disgraced due to a pregnancy out of wedlock. She is preceded by a woman who angrily confronts the family, gesturing to the girl's swollen stomach, perhaps accusing either the old or young man of impregnating the girl.
Inscriptions
secondary support, upper center, in graphite: 60_ x 78 / vue du cadre [upside down]; on 19th-century backing of old frame, upper center, in black ink: Cabinet de Mr Clu Magne; upper center, in brown ink: La fille Coupable et Repentante / Déssiné par J. B. Greuze [overlined and underlined]; center, in black ink: M
Provenance
?-1907: Comte Magne [?-1902], Marseilles 1902: (Drouot, Paris, Comte Magne sale, January 25, 1902, no. 21) 1984: (Christie's, London, July 4, 1984, no. 121) probably 1984-1989: (Kate de Rothschild - Didier Aaron et Cie., London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1989-: The 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). 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). Greuze, The Draftsman. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (September 10-December 1, 2002).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Jean-Baptiste Greuze (French, 1725–1805)
- Date
- early 1770s
- Medium
- brush and black and gray wash over black chalk
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 49.8 x 64.3 cm (19 5/8 x 25 5/16 in.); Secondary Support: 49.8 x 64.3 cm (19 5/8 x 25 5/16 in.); Tertiary Support: 61.3 x 78.8 cm (24 1/8 x 31 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1989.46
More by Jean-Baptiste Greuze in museum collections
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-00011038
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