Princess Maleine (The Little Madonna) (1892): Art, History and Details

Princess Maleine (The Little Madonna) (1892) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916).

The work and its context

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

Although Odilon Redon was best known for his lithographs, he created nearly 30 prints using etching throughout his career. Here, he depicted Princess Maleine, the protagonist of a tragic drama by avant-garde playwright Maurice Maeterlinck, himself a collector of Redon’s prints. The young woman is represented in feathery black lines and tonal areas created using drypoint, a technique that wears down as impressions are printed.

Object facts

• Title: Princess Maleine (The Little Madonna)
• Date: 1892
• Creator attribution: Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916)
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching and drypoint on wove paper
• Dimensions: Plate: 8.6 x 6.3 cm (3 3/8 x 2 1/2 in.); Image: 12 x 6.7 cm (4 3/4 x 2 5/8 in.); Sheet: 23.1 x 19.8 cm (9 1/8 x 7 13/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 2021.172

A detail from the museum

Odilon Redon created this print by reusing the copper plate from his 1880 etching David, and the earlier image is faintly visible throughout.

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Mellerio, André. Odilon Redon: peintre, dessinateur et graveur. Paris: Floury, 1923.
• Werner, Alfred. The Graphic Works of Odilon Redon. New York: Dover, 1969.
• Harrison, Sharon R. The Etchings of Odilon Redon: A Catalogue Raisonné. New York: Da Capo Press, 1986.

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.