Portrait of Violinist Jean Vidal (1789–1867) (1808): Art, History and Details

Portrait of Violinist Jean Vidal (1789–1867) (1808) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Adrien Victor Auger (French, 1787–1854).

The work and its context

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

This portrait is the most finished known work by Adrien Victor Auger, who broke from the idealized forms and historical subjects promoted by his teacher, Jacques-Louis David (whose work is nearby). In this drawing, Auger referenced contemporary Parisian cultural life, depicting the accomplished musician Jean Vidal as he embarked on an illustrious career in violin performance. Vidal is fashionably attired and gazes dreamily, signifying his modernity and artistic temperament. Auger rendered the violinist’s likeness with great detail and realism—including his slumping stockings and smooth shirt collar—by varying the density of repeated chalk marks and highlighting the paper’s tan tone with touches of white.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of Violinist Jean Vidal (1789–1867)
• Date: 1808
• Creator attribution: Adrien Victor Auger (French, 1787–1854)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: black and gray chalk, with touches of white chalk, on tan wove paper
• Dimensions: Image: 75.4 x 54.1 cm (29 11/16 x 21 5/16 in.); Sheet with border: 91.5 x 64.4 cm (36 x 25 3/8 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2013.47

A detail from the museum

Reflecting its personal significance to the sitter, this drawing stayed in the violinist’s family for generations.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Master Drawings: 1530–1920. New York: W. M. Brady & Co., 2012.
• Lemonedes, Heather. “2013 Acquisitions: Drawings.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 2 (March/April 2014): 18.
• Lemonedes, Heather. “Themes and Variations: Works on paper from the museum's collection with a musical motif.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 55, no. 1 (January/February 2015): Cover, 4-5.

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.