ORThe Open Room
Digital gallery
Back to the NGA collection
This is a painting of an auction scene featuring an auctioneer and an audience. The painting shows a group of people watching an auctioneer gesturing towards a framed artwork displayed on an easel. The individuals in the audience are wearing formal attire with top hats. The background consists of an indistinct crowd, emphasizing the interest and anticipation surrounding the auction event. The painting conveys expressions and body language that suggest various states of engagement with the scene. This is in the style of Honoré Daumier.
Read the visual description

This is a painting of an auction scene featuring an auctioneer and an audience. The painting shows a group of people watching an auctioneer gesturing towards a framed artwork displayed on an easel. The individuals in the audience are wearing formal attire with top hats. The background consists of an indistinct crowd, emphasizing the interest and anticipation surrounding the auction event. The painting conveys expressions and body language that suggest various states of engagement with the scene. This is in the style of Honoré Daumier.

National Gallery of Art · Painting

At the Gallery Drouot

Honoré Daumier

Date
after 1863-before 1873
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
overall: 24.13 × 18.42 cm (9 1/2 × 7 1/4 in.) framed: 42.23 × 36.51 × 7.3 cm (16 5/8 × 14 3/8 × 2 7/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Accession number
2015.19.26
Credit line
Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection, 1926)
Time span
1851 to 1875
Department
CF
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • painted surface
  • French
  • Acquired after publication of French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century. Part I: Before Impressionism [1800-1859]
  • male
  • caricature
  • Realist
  • art
  • genre
  • Auctioneer
  • Drouot, Hôtel
Provenance

(Cottier & Co., New York).[1] Cyrus J. Lawrence [1832-1908], New York; (his estate sale, American Art Association, at Mendelssohn Hall, New York, 21-22 January 1910, no. 36); William A. Clark [1839-1925], New York; bequest April 1926 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art. [1] This early provenance is according to the 1910 Lawrence sale catalogue.

Inscription

lower left: h. D; lower center: A L'hotel Drouot

NGA object ID 195605. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.