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Deuxieme frontispice (Assise sur le globe)

James Jacques Joseph Tissot

Artwork Details

Deuxieme frontispice (Assise sur le globe)
1875
James Jacques Joseph Tissot
drypoint on paper
10 1/16 in x 6 1/2 in (25.56 cm x 16.51 cm);15 9/16 in x 11 1/8 in (39.53 cm x 28.26 cm)
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Aldrich
2004/2.165

Description

Subject Matter:

This image is one of three rejected frontispieces that Tissot made for his first portfolio of ten etchings. The allegorical nude female in the guise of Fortune, who sits atop a globe, was a common motif during the Renaissance, especially in the printed work of Northern artists like Albrecht Dürer, Albrecht Altdorfer, and Lucas Cranach the Elder. 

Physical Description:

A nude woman sits on a large sphere and looks down, to her right. She holds a blank tablet in her left hand (against which she also leans her head), and a sprig of laurel leaves in her right hand, which rests behind her right thigh. Laurel leaves also decorate her hair. A ribbon crosses her chest and right hip. The space behind the woman and the sphere are left blank.
Signed in the image, lower left corner, in the plate: "J.J. Tissot / 1875"

Usage Rights:

If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.