The Hyde de Neuville Cabin on the "Eurydice"

1816

Watercolor, graphite, black chalk, and black and brown ink with touches of gouache on paper

Overall: 7 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. (19.1 x 24.8 cm), irregular

Purchase

1953.224

After a stay in the United States from 1807 until 1814, as political exiles during the rule of Napoleon, the Baron and Baroness Hyde de Neuville returned to America in 1816, when Louis XVIII appointed him French minister plenipotentiary to the U.S. This watercolor dates from their twenty-nine-day return voyage aboard the French ship Eurydice, when the baroness documented aspects of their journey, showing intimate views of their quarters and activities. This ambitious watercolor contains a view of their cabin, a spacious accommodation with an elaborate berth, in which Baron Jean-Guillaume Hyde de Neuville reclines and reads. On two windows or cabinets behind the bed are fleur-de-lis decorations symbolic of the Bourbon monarchy, which underscore the baron’s political allegiance and the sponsorship for his new post. In the foreground a young black servant arranges or polishes the baron’s shoes (this part of the watercolor is damaged or less finished). Also present are two unidentified female figures; one perches on a chair reading a book, while the background figure sits in a canopied berth playing with a doll. The elegant appointments—curtained bed, swags, books, and classicizing columns—reveal that the Hyde de Neuvilles traveled in comfort and style. In this highly finished work—one of 153 by Hyde de Neuville owned by the Historical Society—the baroness demonstrates that she was an astute observer of interior spaces. Her more customary subjects record the landscape, architecture, and people of the New World, frequently in a sketchier style.

DescriptionGenre

InscribedInscribed at lower right brown ink: "cabane de L'Eurydice Pt 16 Mai 1816 arriver le 15 Juin au Soir"

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Collections

The Works of Anne Marguérite Joséphine Henriette Rouillé de Marigny, Baroness Hyde de Neuville

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