Construction of an Elevated Railway: Bridge over the Cours de Vincennes (1888): Art, History and Details

Construction of an Elevated Railway: Bridge over the Cours de Vincennes (1888) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Paul Désiré Trouillebert (French, 1829–1900).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Conceived in 1851, after Napoleon III came to power, the railway encircling Paris was intended to transport merchandise and, eventually, passengers. The railway represented a new convenience, but measures were needed to ensure the safety of other traffic. The numerous railway crossings included in the initial plans turned out to be a source of fatal accidents. To remedy the problem, the platforms and retaining walls were to be raised at the most dangerous spots. The Cours de Vincennes, in the eastern part of Paris, had been one of the deadliest intersections. The work on an elevated railway bridge over this street, which is depicted here, was completed in February 1889. Trouillebert concentrated on portraits until about 1881, when he began to focus on landscapes. He also painted everyday scenes and nudes. He was commissioned by Edme Piot, a public works contractor, to paint this and four related views of the Paris railway construction.

Object facts

• Title: Construction of an Elevated Railway: Bridge over the Cours de Vincennes
• Date: 1888
• Creator attribution: Paul Désiré Trouillebert (French, 1829–1900)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on fabric
• Dimensions: Unframed: 38.2 x 56 cm (15 1/16 x 22 1/16 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1980.289

Collection credit

Bequest of Noah L. Butkin

Further reading listed by the museum

• d'Argencourt, Louise, Roger Diederen, and Alisa Luxenberg. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999.
• Angelika Livie, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 9, 2015, in CMA curatorial file
• Estate of Noah L. Butkin, Bequests to Cleveland Museum of Art as a result of disclaimer by Murel S. Butkin. Estates, Gifts, and Funds, Series 1, Box 2:14. Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.