A Funeral

About the Artwork

The macabre subject matter of A Funeral is typical of Jean-Paul Laurens, whose interest in depicting cadavers and coffins earned him the nickname "the painter of the dead." Laurens was also attracted to subjects from church history, and, here, the crosier leaning against the door behind the coffin indicates the deceased was a bishop. Highly finished drawings like this one are rare in Laurens's production. His technique of covering the surface with a variety of media and scratching away for highlights is quite similar to the one used by another artist in the exhibition-Alexandre Bida, in his Café at Constantinople [cat. no. 34]. Laurens utilized the technique effectively in this gloomy scene, where the glowing candle flame casts long shadows and feebly illuminates the columns receding into darkness on the left.

Inscriptions

signed, lower right, in black ink: J Paul Laurens; formerly inscribed in graphite at lower right of mount: 132 (mount destroyed)

Provenance

[Galerie de la Scala, Paris, 1979 (according to Shepherd Gallery records)]; [Shepherd Gallery, New York]; purchased in 1979; estate of Muriel Butkin

Exhibition history

French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002).

Quick Overview

Artist: Jean-Paul Laurens (French, 1838–1921)
Date: c. mid-1870s-early 1880s
Medium: charcoal and brush and black and brown ink, with stumping and scratching away
Dimensions: Sheet: 40.1 x 29 cm (15 13/16 x 11 7/16 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: Bequest of Muriel Butkin
Accession no.: 2008.368

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.