Liberty to the Imagination

This elegant publication presents for the first time the Eveillard Gift of drawings to the Morgan Library & Museum. It accompanies an exhibition at the Morgan and includes a catalogue of the works with entries by drawings experts.The Morgan celebrates the 100th year of its founding with a series of exhibitions devoted to promised gifts to the museum, including 28 drawings from the holdings of New York-based collectors Jean-Marie and Elizabeth Eveillard, which will be on view during the summer of 2024. The selection comprises drawings from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, and includes a rare compositional study for Rembrandt’s first painting, Greuze’s virtuoso depiction of a young cook made for his friend Georges Wille, Delacroix’s intimate portrait of his confidante and caretaker Jenny Le Guillou, and a spectacular nude by Bonnard. Also in the gift are significant sheets—many rarely seen—by major artists including Rubens, Guercino, Watteau, Constable, Seurat, Cezanne, and Vuillard, among others. In fully illustrated entries, drawing specialists explore the creation and context for each sheet, considering the artist’s choices and the ways in which drawing liberated the imagination in these exploratory studies.