Marie Antoinette's

Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Portrait of the Comtesse Du Barry. [1771] ? oil on canvas.

Jean Jacques Bachelier, White angora cat chasing a butterfly (Chat angora blanc guettant un papillon). 18th Century, oil on canvas. Musée Lambinet.

Maybe I am inspired by @arthistorycat but I feel like I keep coming across paintings featuring 18th century French kittens! Well, cats too! Enjoy

Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Fabre d'Eglantine.  Oil on canvas, around 1775-94. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

This week's fashionable male is Philippe François Nazaire Fabre d'Eglantine as seen here, by famed painter Greuze. 

The Age of Elegance will be on view until August 28, 2011.
 Exhibition catalog.

I am so excited to tell you about this exhibition catalog, because the minute I opened it I saw a painting by Nicolas Lancret I had never seen before! It did not take long before I found several unknown treasures; the beautifully illustrated catalog was put together to accompany the exhibition Intimate Encounters: Love and Domesticity in 18th Century France.

Although the show is over, you can visit it through more than 75 works of art by 39 artists.  The book contains five short essays that walk you through the history of genre painting, the artists, women of fashion and scholars that influenced it and opposed it, while making connections between various forms of art.

Intimate Encounters encourages us to consider the role of genre painting in France. In the 18th century it existed in stark contrast to the more traditional historical style that dominated the Royal Academy.  The soft colors and intimate subjects of genre paintings challenged the tastes of the period and they challenged the artists that tried to present them.

They remain popular even today. This genre reflects the world of various classes, particularly the bourgeois. They even made witty remarks on society during a time when privacy became increasingly more important to many classes.

The genre painting existed as a window to a private setting, where a viewer probably should not be.  Even in scenes of public frivolity the viewer may gaze unseen, spying all the details and scandalous ones at that which occur before them.  Intimate Encounters is wonderfully presented and offers many fascinating approaches to understanding the demand for, popularity and beauty of intimate encounters in art.

The five sections include:
"Love, Domesticity, and the Evolution of Genre Painting In Eighteenth-Century France" by Richard Rand discusses the style and subject of genre painting as a comparable and even challenging style in a society when the highest valued art was traditional and historic painting.


"Hidden from View: French Women Authors and the Language of Rights, 1727-1792" by Virginia E. Swain is a wonderful piece on French women of letters and novelists, including Madame Riccoboni, Madame de Tencin and Madame de Lambert.


"The "Bourgeois" Family Revisited: Sentimentalism and Social Class in Prerevolutionary French Culture" by Sarah Maza discusses the changes in society at various levels; a new desire for privacy in the home is demonstrated in many genre paintings of the 18th century.


"Intimate Dramas: Genre Painting and New Theater in Eighteenth-Century France""Genre Prints in Eighteenth-Century France: Production, Market, and Audience" by Mark Ledbury introduces some of the connections between 18th century genre painting and the 18th century stage; not always obvious, the two art forms share more than you might expect!


"Genre Prints in Eighteenth-Century France: Production, Market, and Audience," by Anne L. Schroder is the last essay in the book.  It focuses on the genre prints of the 18th century, which were more easy to afford as well as create than paintings, yet appealed to members from all ranks of society.

The second half of the book contains the catalog of works from the exhibition.  Several prints accompany the many full color images of works by artists such as Boucher, Chardin, Watteau, Lancret, Greuze and Fragonard.  The works are accompanied with a description and discussion of the work in context.

Rand, Richard, and Juliette M. Bianco. 1997. Intimate encounters: love and domesticity in eighteenth-century France. [Hanover, N.H.]: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College. ISBN 9780691016634

Intimate encounters is available from:
amazon.com

Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Self-Portrait. c. 1769, oil on canvas. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.

The talented painter was born in 1725 in Tournus, his family was not rich, but lower middle class. He began to draw when he was very young, and would leave his drawings all over the place! But the idea of earning a living as an artist was not well received by his father (naturally).  It seemed entirely out of the question.  As a nice compromise, as his son clearly had a bit of artistic talent, the boy was set up to be an apprentice to an architect. You can guess how this worked out.


One day he gave his father a gift, a portrait of St. James' head.  (To be fair it was given on St. James' Day).  The portrait showed the command of young Greuze's talent, full of life and dimension.  It was a lucky day for the young artist, his father knew then his son had the gift of 'genius'/ true artistic talent!

Jean Baptiste Greuze, Head of a Young Woman ("Contemplation"). Mid-1770s, Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

He was set up with an apprenticeship at the workshop of the artist Grandon in Lyons, where he jumped into his training program.  He took full advantage.  All the drawings created at this workshop were sent out and sold, and there was less emphasis on fine art and more of a push for marketable art.  Quick sales, mass sales.  As soon as his time there ended he headed off to Paris.  This could easily have gone either way...like a modern New York, you could loose everything or gain everything.  He was quite determined to climb the ladder of success.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze, The Dead Bird, or A Child Hesitating to Touch a Bird, Fearing That It Might Be Dead. c. 1800,  oil on wood.  Musée du Louvre, Paris.

While in Paris he practiced great industry, attended the academy everyday, took lessons from Charles Joesph Natoire, and in his spare time created works to be sold so that he could afford to live. He did not make much money but was doing what he loved, and he believed he was growing as an artist.  One day, as the story goes, Natoire gave him a critique of his work, which he did not want to hear.  Sharply, Greuze responded something along the lines of oh you only wish you could paint figures like this!  *shock *gasp

As you can imagine, Natoire was not a big fan after that.  In fact, he was not well received anywhere! In 1755, at the age of 30, he finally caught the attention of the academy.  Works such as Aveugle trompé and Le Père de famille expliquant la Bible à ses enfants. Why did these works catch the eyes of the art community?

Jean-Baptiste Greuze, The Wool Winder. Probably 1759, oil on canvas (lined). The Frick Collection.

Greuze was painting in a style uniquely his own at the time.  He took a little from Boucher, a little from Watteau, and added a bit of Rousseau and Voltaire in the mix.  Rather than creating light-hearted scenes of pleasure and frivolity, his images focused on human spirit.  Even in a very subtle way, his figures conveyed thought, feeling, and emotion.

His subjects, the class portrayed, were not often found in fine art at the time.  This very fact made his works genuine and unique.  They were milkmaids, laundresses, working class people.  They were decorated, stripped down, and thoughtful.  His figures suffered, felt sorrow, felt joy, and laughed.  They were well received by aristocrats who had begun the desire for a new style.  A more simple style, back-to-basics way of life. In this way Greuze was not only innovated but a trend-maker.

Louis Nicolas de Lespinasse (1734–1808), View of Two Banks of the Seine, Paris. Pen and brown ink and watercolor, heightened with white, over preliminary drawing in graphite; fine ruled border in pen and black ink. The Morgan Library & Museum.

The Morgan Library & Museum is now showing Rococo and Revolution: Eighteenth Century French Drawings, and it is on display until January 3, 2010. This past weekend I had the chance to check out the show featuring works from the Morgan's permanent collection. The artists varied from Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard (tempted yet?) Greuze, Drouais and David.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806), Interior of a Park: The Gardens of Villa d'Este. 18th century, Gouache on vellum. Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum.

It is downstairs in the Morgan Stanley East Gallery across from their Blake exhibition (also open until January 3). The whole exhibition is in one room set up with display cases down the center, holding plenty of pieces. I was immediately excited to see Fragonard's The Gardens of Villa d'Este and of course the Watteaus!

The fabulous rococo.

The style developed during the reign of Louis XIV and the exhibition covers the end of his reign through that of Louis XVI, until neoclassicism was favored at the wake of the Revolution. The journey from the Sun King to Louis XVI is described through drawing. The show begins with the rich, often irregular compositions of the rococo, made up of intricate and flowing line which forms space and figures. The imagery is very pleasing to the eye, lush landscapes, rolling alleys, private parties and innocent conversations. It is all very attractive.

Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755), Rendez-vous au carrefour du Puits du Roi, Forêt de Compiègne, or Le Botté du Roi. 18th century, Pen and point of brush and black ink and gray wash, over black chalk, heightened with white, on blue paper faded to light brown. The Morgan Library & Museum.

Pomp and Ceremony

I was caught by a pen and brush drawing by Jean-Baptiste Oudry. The piece is called Meeting at the Carrefour du Puits du Roi, Compiègne forest, or Le Botté du Roi (The Booting of the King). The King in question is Louis XV, and the ceremony (booting of the king) was common. Here we see Louis has stepped down from his coach and is having his boots put on so that he can mount his horse for the hunt. He is attended by his Grand Veneur (Grand Huntsman) on the left and a large party of hunters who watch with apparent delight.

Detail.

The booting of the King was a ceremony and those who had the privilege of chambre entree could attend. Typically le Botté du Roi occurred when the King changed his coat on his way to or from a hunt/walk. If you were of appropriate family/status/background all you had to do was ask the first gentleman of the chambre if you could attend. He could allow up to five suitable persons in, so you would need to get there early!

Versailles

Jacques Rigaud (1681–1754),  Les Dômes. 18th century, Black chalk, pen and gray ink, gray wash. The Morgan Library & Museum.

Les Dômes today. Unknown photographer, c 2009.

Also on display among the drawings is a volume of a series: Recueil choisi des plus belles vues des palais, château, et maisons royales de Paris et des environs by Rigaud. The book contains images of some of the most beautiful sights at Versailles by Rigaud, who was a talent at topographical scenes. The Morgan displays Les Dômes, which was created in preparation for the book. As noted on the website, this image let's us see what is no longer there, the two marble pavilions. And, of course, all the silk.

Charles Joseph Natoire, (1700–1777), The Cascade at the Villa Aldobrandini, Frascati. 1762, Pen and brown and black ink, brown wash, black and red chalk, heightened with white, on light brown paper. The Morgan Library & Museum.

In the mid to later years of the rococo, one artist, Charles Joseph Natoire became director of the French Academy in Rome. Fond of landscapes and the importance of practising them, he encouraged his own students to do the same. The Cascade at the Villa Aldobrandini, Frascati is a beautiful example of a pen and ink landscape, shaded with brown washes. It is absolutely lovely.

Jacques Louis David 1748-1825, Study for Exécution des fils de Brutus. ca. 1785-1786, Pen and black ink with ink wash over black chalk, on laid paper. Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum.

Revolution

Towards the end of the show, or the other side of the room as I viewed it, were some later works, including Jacques Louis David's Exécution des fils de Brutus. Now neoclassicism is clear, and we have moved a long way from the carefree gardens of Fragonard in style, but also in context.

The drawing shows Brutus at the execution of his own sons. Brutus led a revolt against the last King of Rome and was a leader in creating the republic. His sons plotted to restore the throne, and upon discovery he oversaw their executions. A grave subject yet compelling image. How far we have come indeed.

If you will not be in town before January, you can see selected works from the show (including all of the above images) on the Morgan's website.  The Morgan Library and Museum is on Twitter and updates often with events and fun links:@MorganLibrary (I am @MarieGossip1.) So who is going to the show?