The Relics (c. 1835): Art, History and Details

The Relics (c. 1835) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jean-Jacques Grandville (French, 1803–1847).

The work and its context

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

Grandville was known for the many illustrations he contributed to books and periodicals, often in a creative, fantastic style. This drawing relates to an image that appeared in an 1835 edition of the popular songwriter Pierre Jean de Béranger’s complete works. It accompanied the lyrics to a macabre song entitled Les Reliques, written in the voice of the skeleton who appears in the image.

Object facts

• Title: The Relics
• Date: c. 1835
• Creator attribution: Jean-Jacques Grandville (French, 1803–1847)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: pen and brown ink, brown ink wash, heightened with white and red-orange gouache with scoring on wove paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 11.8 x 9.4 cm (4 5/8 x 3 11/16 in.); Mounted: 20.6 x 16.5 cm (8 1/8 x 6 1/2 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2018.1065

A detail from the museum

This drawing illustrated Les Reliques, a song written in the voice of the skeleton seen in the image.

Collection credit

Bequest of Muriel Butkin

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.