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Genre scene showing a sleeping figure seated in a chair in red Cardinal's cloak with a second figure leaning over him speaking into his ear. The two are in front of a large fireplace in an Renaissance interior. Ornate gilded frame.
oil paintings (visual works)
gouache (paint)
watercolor (paint)
paper (fiber product)
Painting
Painting
"Artful Stories": Vibert was a Frenchman famous for scenes of richly dressed Catholic priests behaving badly. His prestige was especially high in America, where upper-class Protestant collectors harbored anti-Catholic sentiments. This scenes title suggests there is a backstory to this cardinal, who seems to have been re-reading some letters. A faint smile crosses his dreaming face, which is being studied by a well-dressed demon whose malice is underscored by the fireplaces flames.
The artist, whose initials appear in the cardinals inkwell, invented products for painters, including the pigment Viberts red, a vibrant color used in many of his works.
Vibert, Jean Georges, 1840-1902 (Artist)
Paris, France
43 1/4 x 34 (HxW) (inches)
Estate of Elizabeth Langdon
1966.372
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