french

Curious Beauty

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Playful putti, nude nymphs and sinister satyrs adorn the intricate and imaginative ‘Suite de Vases’ by Ennemond-Alexandre Petitot (1727 – 1801). This display showcases eleven of his beautifully eccentric, neoclassical drawings for ornamental vases, engraved by Benigno Bossi (1727 – 1792). First published as a set of 31 plates in 1764, they combine Petitot’s architectural … Read more

Honoré Daumier (1808-1879)

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Honoré Daumier Et pendant ce temps-là ils continuent à affirmer qu’elle ne s’est jamais mieux portée Paris, 1872 Lithograph 283 x 275 mm Daumier was a Republican, but there is no sense of triumph in this depiction of the Monarchy as a withered corpse in an open coffin. The Franco-Prussian War (1871-2) and resultant turmoil … Read more

Albert Besnard (1849-1934)

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Albert Besnard Auguste Rodin Paris, 1900 Etching 32.5 x 26 cm This portrait of the renowned sculptor captures the intimacy of the friendship between the two artists. A skilled draughtsman with a keen eye for detail, Besnard is known for revealing a sitter’s personality in his portraits. Presented here against a blank background and in … Read more

Édouard Manet (1832-1883)

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Édouard Manet Charles Baudelaire Paris, 1865 Etching Composed after a photograph by the French photographer Nadar, this etching captures the immediacy of the original photographic image. The short busy lines swirl across the paper to build up the likeness of the art critic and poet Charles Baudelaire. Nadar took a direct approach to his portraiture, … Read more

Honoré Daumier (1808-1879)

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Honoré Daumier Embrassons Nous Paris, 1867 Lithograph 286 x 283 mm Daumier produced around 5,000 caricatures during his career, which spanned an intense period of political unrest in France. In 1867, in a bid to appear more liberal, Napoleon III lifted the censorship ban he had imposed 15 years earlier. This cartoon was published soon … Read more

Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863)

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Eugène Delacroix A Wild Horse  France, 1828 Lithograph on chine collé The energy and beauty of an untamed horse is captured perfectly by Delacroix. The versatile technique of lithography accurately describes the texture of the horse’s coat and the momentary nature of this scene shown through the animal’s frightened response to a gust of wind. … Read more

Édouard Manet (1832-1883)

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Édouard Manet La guerre civile  France, 1871 Lithograph Plate: 39.5 x 50.9 cm; mount: 68.3 x 77.1 cm The lithograph protests against the massacre of Parisian Communards in 1871 by French government forces. This marked the end of the tumultuous Franco-German War and the Seige of Paris. The central dead Communard is dressed in National … Read more

Jean-François Millet (1814-1875)

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Jean-François Millet The Diggers France, unknown date Etching Two men are digging in an inhospitable landscape. Their strong shoulders, curved backs and widely planted legs suggest the strenuous nature of their task. Millet often regarded peasant figures as evoking a sense of eternal and timeless toil in an unforgiving world. He un-idealised visions were seen … Read more

Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878)

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Charles-François Daubigny Apple Tree at Auvers (Pommiers à Auvers) Auvers, 1877 Etching on laid handmade paper, third state Plate: 18 x 27.5 cm; mount: 40.5 x 55.7 cm This print was made a year before Daubigny’s death in 1878. A peasant figure makes a path through the landscape equipped with tools for the cultivation of … Read more

Jacques Beltrand (1874 – 1977)

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Jacques Beltrand La Baigneuse (The Bather) France, about 1910 Colour woodcut 19.1 x 18.8 cm Beltrand helped pioneer the use of water-based pigments in printing in France, inspired by Japanese printmaking techniques. Water based inks can produce subtle and delicate images, whereas more traditional Western woodcuts are often use oil based inks and are bolder or … Read more

Jacques-Philippe Lebas (1707-1783) after Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779)

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Jacques-Philippe Lebas after Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin Le Négligé Paris, 1741 Engraving Paper: 38.6 x 27.4 cm; mount: 63 x 51.5 cm Lebas’ print reproduces ‘The Morning Toilette’, painted by Chardin (1669-1779) in 1741. Many of Chardin’s pictures were of domestic interiors, scenes of childhood and maternal love, all of which were fashionable with 18th-century French audiences. … Read more

Claude Lorrain (1604/5-1682)

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Claude Lorrain Sunrise Rome, 1634 Etching Paper: 12.9 x 20 cm; mount: 40.5 x 56 cm This marine scene bustles with activity as figures gesticulate, exchange glances and huddle in groups. The sun, which faintly be seen on the horizon, floods the picture with light and blurs the distant mountains. Opposite the triumphal Arch of … Read more

Pierre Étienne Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867)

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Pierre Étienne Théodore Rousseau Oaks Among Boulders Barbizon, 1861 Etching Plate: 13.4 x 21 cm; paper: 30 x 40 cm; mount: 40.5 x 55.6 cm  This etching was made from Rousseau’s painting La Chene de Roches and published in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts. Rousseau depicts the heart of the forest untouched by human intervention. Rousseau’s … Read more

Jean Morin (c. 1590-1650)

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Jean Morin Omer Talon  Paris, early 1650s Engraving Mount: 55.7 x 40.5 cm  This portrait is based on Philippe de Champaigne’s full-length painting of Omer Talon (1595-1652) produced in 1649. Champaigne was a founder of the French Academy in the mid 17th century and is best known for his portraits of royalty and important political … Read more

Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878)

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Charles-François Daubigny The Satyr Île-de-France, Paris, 1850 Etching 260 x 200 mm A satyr (a Greek mythological male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse) appears in a landscape that may have been inspired by the forest at Fontainebleu. As an artist renowned for a commitment to the faithful reproduction of … Read more

Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878)

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Charles-François Daubigny The Beach at Villerville France, 1850 Etching Plate: 125 x 215 mm; paper: 195 x 165; mount: 405 x 555 mm This peaceful scene presents groups of workers – men fishing in a small boat to the right while women collect shells from rock pools – whose survival was dependent on the sea. … Read more

Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878)

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Charles-François Daubigny The Children in the Cart Auvers-sur-Oise, 1861 Etching Plate: 130 x 180 mm; paper: 280 x 250 mm; mount: 405 x 555 mm Daubigny watches from his boat as a woman, possibly his wife, assists a group of children pulling a cart. Madame Daubigny holds her youngest son’s hand while he rides sleepily in … Read more

Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878)

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Charles-François Daubigny Interior of an Inn France, 1861 Etching Plate: 120 x 150 mm; paper: 270 x 223 mm; mount: 405 x 555 mm This interior shows the corridor of an inn lined with pairs of shoes and a broom, dramatically lit by a lamp. Daubigny also depicted this scene in daylight. The observation of … Read more

Edgar Degas (1834-1917)

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Edgar Degas Miss Lala at the Cirque Fernando France, 1879 Black chalk with touches of pastel 470 x 320 mm In 1879 Degas made this preparatory drawing of Miss LaLa, an acrobat of mixed European and African parentage. Renowned for her agility, she performed throughout Europe. This daring perspective shows LaLa suspended from the rafters … Read more

Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917)

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Edgar Degas Mademoiselle Malo Paris, the early 1870s Pastel on paper 52.2 X 41.1 cm Mademoiselle Malo has not been conclusively identified, but apparently she was a dancer at the Paris Opéra. Degas began to use pastel for portrait studies in the 1870s and this fine example is one of the earliest.  Degas appreciated the … Read more

Charles Le Brun (1619-1690)

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Charles Le Brun Louis XIV Paris, about 1663 Black, red and white chalk 43.5 X 35.2 cm This study of Louis XIV (1638-1715) was drawn from life when the king was aged 25 and had been suffering from scarlet fever.  Le Brun was particularly interested in how a person’s face could reveal their personality. Here … Read more

Edgar Degas (1834-1917)

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Edgar Degas The Cirque Fernando – Architectural Study  France, c. 1879 Pencil, black and red chalk on two sheets of joined pink paper A study for the architectural background of ‘La La at the Cirque Fernando’. The Cirque Fernando was built in 1875 in the boulevard Rochechouart, Paris, near the Place Pigalle. Studies for the … Read more

André Derain (1880-1954)

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André Derain La Chute de Phaëton (The Fall of Phaeton) France, about 1905 Brush, pen and black ink 64 x 35.8 cm Phaethon, son of Helios the sun-god, persuades his father to let him drive his sun-chariot, but wreaks such havoc that he is struck from the sky by Zeus (Ovid: Metamorphoses II, 150-327). A … Read more

Joseph Chinard (1756 – 1813)

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Joseph Chinard Bust of Madame Juliette Récamier (1777-1849) Paris, Model: about 1802; Version: early 19th century or later Marble 67.3 x 31.5 x 19 cm Mme Récamier, celebrated for her beauty, was the wife – and possibly the illegitimate daughter – of a wealthy older banker. She became a prominent figure in Parisian political and literary … Read more

Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917)

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Edgar Degas A Horse Trotting Paris, Model: late 1880s, Cast: Hébrard foundry, Paris, 1919-21 Bronze 23.0 x 8.4 x 22.5 cm Degas’ interest in horses is evidenced by his numerous paintings with racecourse subjects, such as the Barber’s magnificent ‘Jockeys Before the Race’ of c.1878-79. This model may have been inspired by a photograph of ‘The … Read more