Terms and Conditions
The artist, title and date of the work must be listed anywhere the image is reproduced:
Adrien-Louis Demont
Don Quixote (Don Quichotte) 1893
oil on canvas
111.0 × 156.0 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1893
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
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Don Quixote
(Don Quichotte)
1893
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
111.0 × 156.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1893
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
In nineteenth-century France the reading of popular fiction was thought to carry particular risks. The perils of falling prey to romantic delusions were hilariously illustrated by ‘Don Quixote de la Mancha’, the anti-hero of Miguel de Cervantes’ 1615 novel. Enraptured by stories of knights Don Quixote decides to abandon his role as a country gentleman to embark on a life of adventure. Demont here reinforces Quixote’s delusional state by painting a virtual cavalry in the clouds, a vision Quixote shares with the viewer, but perhaps not his squire Sancho Panza, and his horse who quietly grazes undisturbed by the charging forces above.
Artwork Details
Inscription
inscribed in black paint l.l.: 1893 adrien Demont
Accession Number
p.399.5-1
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Dame Carol Colburn-Grigor CBE through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
History and Legend Human Figures Literary and Text
Subjects (specific)
armour (protective wear) Don Quixote (novel, Cervantes, 1605-1615) horse (species) knights (landholders) men (male humans) Quixote, Don (Spanish literary character, Cervantes, 1605) squires stories (literature genre)
Provenance
Exhibited Salon, Paris, 1893, no. 551; from where purchased, by John Longstaff, for the NGV, 1893.
Exhibited: Salon, Paris, 1893, no. 551.