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L'Ange du Destin (The Angel of Destiny)
Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916)
French
about 1899
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
91 × 81 cm (35 13/16 × 31 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Charles H. Bayley Picture and Painting Fund
Accession Number2019.2
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
ProvenanceFebruary 28, 1899, sold by the artist to Ambroise Vollard (dealer; b. 1866 – d. 1939), Paris (stock nos. 4338 and 4007) [see note 1]; 1939, probably by inheritance to Vollard’s mistress, Mme. de Galéa, and her son, Robert de Galéa, Poissy and Chantilly, France [see note 2]; after about 1949, probably sold by Robert de Galéa [see note 3]. About 1962/1963, in Italy [see note 4]. By 1963, Alexander Donskoi and Andrée Stassart, Paris; December 6, 1963, Donskoi sale, Palais Galliera, Paris, lot 72, possibly bought in or repurchased by Andrée Stassart, Paris; 1971 or later, sold by Stassart [see note 5]. 2012, sold by a private collection, Turin, to a private collection, Paris; 2018, consigned by this private collection to Nicholas Hall (dealer), New York; 2019, sold by Nicholas Hall to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 20, 2019)
NOTES:
[1] This has been identified as one of 17 paintings sold by Redon to Ambroise Vollard on February 28, 1899, for fr.1000 (“Mauvais ange accroupi sorte de barque ou des ailes”). It was given stock no. 4,338 in Vollard’s Stockbook B (1904-1907) (Vollard Archives, Paris, Archives nationales, MS 421 (4,5), and no. 4007 in Vollard’s "1922 Inventory" (1922-1938, Paris, Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Fonds WPI). The painting’s stretcher bears Vollard’s label numbered 4007.
[2] Exhibited by Andrée Stassart, Accrochage 2 (Paris, 1971), with the provenance “de Galea”.
[3] Vollard’s collection was divided at his death and inherited by his brother, Lucien, and the son of his mistress, Mme. de Galéa. The collection was kept together in M. de Galéa’s homes in Poissy and Chantilly during World War II, and was dispersed after 1949. See James Rorimer, Survival : The Salvage and Protection of Art in War (New York, 1950), pp. 85-86 and Maryline Assante di Panzillo, « The Dispersal of the Vollard Collection, » in Cezanne to Picasso : Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde (exh. cat., MMA, 2006), pp. 258-262.
[4] The back of the canvas bears Italian export stamps, dated January 1963.
[5] The painting was lent to the exhibition “Odilon Redon” (May-July 1963), Bernheim-Jeune, by M. and Mme. A.-N. Donskoi, who sold it through Palais Galliera. Donskoi, or Donskoy, and his wife, Andrée Stassart, both worked as dealers in Paris. The painting was included in numerous commercial gallery exhibitions between 1966 and 1971, at which date it was identified as belonging to the “collection Andrée Stassart.”
NOTES:
[1] This has been identified as one of 17 paintings sold by Redon to Ambroise Vollard on February 28, 1899, for fr.1000 (“Mauvais ange accroupi sorte de barque ou des ailes”). It was given stock no. 4,338 in Vollard’s Stockbook B (1904-1907) (Vollard Archives, Paris, Archives nationales, MS 421 (4,5), and no. 4007 in Vollard’s "1922 Inventory" (1922-1938, Paris, Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Fonds WPI). The painting’s stretcher bears Vollard’s label numbered 4007.
[2] Exhibited by Andrée Stassart, Accrochage 2 (Paris, 1971), with the provenance “de Galea”.
[3] Vollard’s collection was divided at his death and inherited by his brother, Lucien, and the son of his mistress, Mme. de Galéa. The collection was kept together in M. de Galéa’s homes in Poissy and Chantilly during World War II, and was dispersed after 1949. See James Rorimer, Survival : The Salvage and Protection of Art in War (New York, 1950), pp. 85-86 and Maryline Assante di Panzillo, « The Dispersal of the Vollard Collection, » in Cezanne to Picasso : Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde (exh. cat., MMA, 2006), pp. 258-262.
[4] The back of the canvas bears Italian export stamps, dated January 1963.
[5] The painting was lent to the exhibition “Odilon Redon” (May-July 1963), Bernheim-Jeune, by M. and Mme. A.-N. Donskoi, who sold it through Palais Galliera. Donskoi, or Donskoy, and his wife, Andrée Stassart, both worked as dealers in Paris. The painting was included in numerous commercial gallery exhibitions between 1966 and 1971, at which date it was identified as belonging to the “collection Andrée Stassart.”