Portrait of a Man (1880): Art, History and Details

Portrait of a Man (1880) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848–1894).

The work and its context

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

This portrait of Albert Courtier was painted in the fourth-floor apartment at 31 boulevard Hausmann in Paris that Gustave Caillebotte shared with his brother Martial. The interior and balcony of this apartment provided the setting for numerous paintings of men in Caillebotte’s social circle surveying the city. Courtier’s pose and unguarded gaze suggest a comfortable rapport with the artist. Their relationship was close: Courtier posed for Caillebotte on several occasions, owned four of the artist’s paintings, and designated his friend as godfather to his eldest daughter.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of a Man
• Date: 1880
• Creator attribution: Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848–1894)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Unframed: 81.3 x 65.6 cm (32 x 25 13/16 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 2009.157

A detail from the museum

The subject of this portrait is Albert Courtier, Gustave Caillebotte's notary as well as a lifelong family friend.

Collection credit

Bequest of Muriel Butkin

Further reading listed by the museum

• Berhaut, Marie. Caillebotte: sa vie et son oeuvre : catalogue raisonné des peintures et pastels. Paris, France: La Bibliothèque des Arts, 1978.
• Berhaut, Marie, and Sophie Pietri. Gustave Caillebotte: catalogue raisonné des peintures et pastels. Paris, France: Wildenstein Institute, 1994.
• Distel, Anne. Gustave Caillebotte, Urban Impressionist. Paris, France: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1995.

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.