Portrait of Alfred de Musset (1810-1857) (c. 1850s): Art, History and Details

Portrait of Alfred de Musset (1810-1857) (c. 1850s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Alexandre Bida (French, 1823–1895).

The work and its context

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

This portrait is one of only a few that Alexandre Bida—known primarily for his depictions of North Africa—created during his career. It depicts the celebrated French poet and novelist Alfred de Musset (1810–1857). Bida was commissioned to create illustrations for an 1865 publication of Musset’s collected writings, and the drawing was likely completed in commemoration of that project.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of Alfred de Musset (1810-1857)
• Date: c. 1850s
• Creator attribution: Alexandre Bida (French, 1823–1895)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: black chalk and graphite with stumping, watercolor, gouache, and fabricated colored chalk on medium weight wove paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 43.6 x 30.7 cm (17 3/16 x 12 1/16 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2019.62

A detail from the museum

Alexandre Bida was an accomplished illustrator and produced images to accompany an 1865 edition of the works of Alfred de Musset, this portrait’s sitter.

Collection credit

Bequest of Muriel Butkin

Further reading listed by the museum

• Rohowsky, Peter S. French Nineteenth Century Drawings, Pastels, Watercolors: Nov. 1977-Feb. 1978. New York: Shepherd Gallery Associates, 1977.

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.