ID: 700000197 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700000197	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

Oedipus and the Sphinx (oil painting (visual work); Gustave Moreau (French painter, 1826-1898); 1864; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York state, U...; 21.134.1 )

Note: This work depicts the mythological moment in which Oedipus attempts to solve the Sphinx’s riddle in order to save his own life and the lives of the Thebans. The painting demonstrates the artist’s familiarity both with Ingres’s 1808 representation of the same subject and with the early Renaissance paintings of Andrea Mantegna, both artists Moreau had studied. Although the mythological subject matter and the consciously archaic stylistic quality of the work were not characteristic of the 1860s, Moreau received significant recognition for this painting at the Salon of 1864.

Titles:

Oedipus and the Sphinx (preferred,C,U,D,RP,English-P,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

oil painting (visual work) [300033799] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>, paintings (visual works), <paintings by material or technique>)

Classifications:

paintings (preferred)

European art

Creation Date: 1864

Creator Display:

Gustave Moreau (French painter, 1826-1898) [preferred,VP]

painter Moreau, Gustave (French painter, 1826-1898) [500115776]

Locations:

Current: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York state, United States) [500125157] Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 21.134.1

Credit Line: Bequest of William H. Herriman, 1920

Display Materials: oil on canvas

	oil paint (paint) [300015050]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>, paint (coating), <paint by composition or origin>)

	canvas (textile material) [300014078]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by form>, <materials by physical form>, <fiber and fiber by product>, <fiber by product>, textile materials, <textile materials by process or technique>)

Dimensions: 206.4 x 104.8 cm (81 1/4 x 41 1/4 inches)

Cultures:

French (preferred)

General Subject:

religion and mythology (preferred)

literary

human figures

Specific Subjects:

	Oedipus and the Sphinx [901002035]
	.....((Story of Oedipus, Greek narratives, Greek iconography, Legend, Religion, Mythology)) (ICON)

	Sphinx [901000099]
	.....((Greek characters, Greek iconography, Legend, Religion, Mythology)) (ICON)

	Oedipus [901000098]
	.....((Greek characters, Greek iconography, Legend, Religion, Mythology)) (ICON)

Provenance: the artist, Paris (1864; sold on May 1 for Fr 8,000 to Napoléon); Prince Napoléon-Joseph-Charles-Paul Bonaparte, Paris (1864–68; sold on February 3, 1868, no. 10709, for Fr 14,000 to Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, in partnership with Brame, Paris, 1868; sold on March 6 for Fr 15,000 (to be paid in October 1868) to Herriman]; William H. Herriman, Rome (1868–d. 1921; installed at 93, Piazza di Spagna, Rome, by January 18, 1869)

Inscriptions: Signed and dated (lower left): .Gustave Moreau .64.

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

Sources and Contributors:
Oedipus and the Sphinx	........ [VP]
	........ Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-) accessed 30 November 2011

Subject: ....... [VP]

....................... Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-) https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437153, accessed 30 November 2011

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-) accessed 30 November 2011