Title
A Burial at Ornans
Description
A Burial at Ornans was inspired by the 1848 funeral of Courbets maternal grandfather, Jean-Antoine Oudot, a veteran of the Revolution of 1789.The painting is not meant as a record of that particular funeral, however, since Oudot is shown alive in profile at the extreme left of the canvas, his image adapted by Courbet from an earlier portrait. The two men to the right of the open grave, dressed not in contemporary but in late eighteenth-century clothing, are also revolutionaries of Oudots generation. Their proximity to the grave suggests that one of their peers is being buried. Courbets picture may be interpreted as linking the revolutions of 1789 and 1848, both of which sought to advance the cause of democracy in France.
Creator
Courbet, Gustave
Source
Stokstad, Marilyn
Art History, 4th ed., Upper Saddle River, N. J.: Pearson Education, 2010 (9780205800377)
Publisher
Department of Visual Studies
University at Buffalo
Date
1849
CE
Contributor
Joe Easterly
Rights
Type
oil paintings (visual works)
paintings (visual works)
Still Image
Identifier
VS4572567
vw-20100831-1
Date Created
2011-09-07
Date Modified
2011-09-07
Is Part Of
Visual Resources Collection
VS001
Extent
10'3 1/2" x 21'9
Medium
oil on canvas
Spatial Coverage
Musee d'Orsay, Paris.
Audience
AHI101
UB Only
Collection
Tags
Citation
Courbet, Gustave, “A Burial at Ornans,” Digital Collections - University at Buffalo Libraries, accessed March 4, 2025, https://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/index.php/items/show/36367.