Skip to main content

Jean-Baptiste Greuze

Jean-Baptiste Greuze - Claude Watelet (1765)
Portrait of Claude-Henri Watalet, 1763


Tomorrow is the birthday of French artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze, born in 1725, in the east central region of France. His style of portraiture has at times a strong British influence, yet other times he is distinctly French, and other times the influence of Venetian color is highly evident. Greuze would later become eclipsed by other French giants such as David and Ingres, but what he may have lacked in consistency of style he made up for in emotion and mood, when he did get it right. His greatest strength was his draftsmanship, as his drawings that survived prove he could draw, and draw incredibly well. He had a unique cross-hatching style that is deceptively complex to imitate, and he often imbued those portraits with more character and personality than many of his very best paintings.

The above portrait of Claude-Henri Watalet, respected engraver, painter, writer, art lover and expert on gardens, reveals a man highly esteemed by Greuze. The way those pearl-colored highlights are painstakingly brushed on that jacket and pants seems to defy belief. Watalet is holding calipers close to himself while studying a bronze statuette of the Venus De' Medici, and his left hand firmly planted on the book at his desk. Greuze has him lit from above, leaving the background in shadow that softens gradually towards the left of the painting. This is a flattering tribute to someone who had great respect for the arts.







The Guitarist, 1757

This is an amazing portrait. I love this painting. Puzzling how most of Greuze's portraits are quite ordinary and suddenly something like this comes along...a guitarist tuning his guitar. Note how his body forms a dynamic S-shape, with that blue cape underlining and strengthening his posture, adding a form of visual musicality itself. The striped pant is reminiscent of Italian painting and the harlequin clown character of the 16th century. His expression looking at us is equally intriguing as he listens for the right note...yet this would have worked just as well if he was looking off in another direction. It is rare to see such personality in a portrait that makes us curious about who the guitarist is.






Greuze Study of a girl
Study of a girl, ca.1777

Observe Greuze's very confident line work here. He makes quick work of a thoughtful portrait with only one color, lit from top right...again, that intricate cross-hatching is something not everyone would use to define a shadow area, especially a young female, yet Greuze handles it with seemingly little effort. I can only wonder how fast it took him to draw this...possibly under twenty five minutes.




Jean-Baptiste Greuze - Student with a Lesson-book - WGA10674
Student with a Lesson book, 1757

This seems almost spun from a Dicken's novel, and yet look at the presence and depth Greuze has given this young girl, lost in thought. That brushwork on the face seems to mimic that cross-hatching of his drawings. Note the contrast of her soft red hair with the well-worn school jacket. Even the pages show frequent reading of that little book. Greuze demonstrates a respect for children as young adults in the truest sense of the word, in a time where the Industrial Revolution over the following hundred years and its horrors would reveal, enslaving young kids with little pay for very long hours, regardless of their education.

Greuze was a pioneer at a time when art in France began to really blossom, and he is definitely worth studying, especially his drawings. When his powers of portraiture were properly focused, he rivalled his successors easily.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

More Old Master Drawings

There is nothing in all the world more beautiful or significant of the laws of the universe than the nude human body. Robert Henri Charles Louis Müller , A Standing Female Nude Leaning Against an Arch, ca.1864 Once again I decided to talk about some Old Master drawings and delve into the thinking behind how these drawings may have been created and the knowledge of the artist. In the above drawing by Müller, done in sanguine with white chalk highlights, the figure is drawn from a low view-point, with her body twisting toward her left side while resting on one knee. Note how Müller alternates the bent right leg with the bent left arm to create dynamic contrast. The right arm is also foreshortened and partially in shadow. Expressing power and femininity, this is a study that is Renaissance in spirit, even Mannerist, revealing the female nude as sculptural yet always graceful. Anton Raphael Mengs , Seated male nude viewed from the back, 1755 One of several Academic nu

The Genius of Ramon Casas

Open Air Interior, 1892 Born on January 4, 1866 in Barcelona, Ramon Casas i Carbó was a Spanish portrait painter and graphic designer. He was a contemporary of Santiago Rusiñol , both founders of the Spanish art movement modernisme . Where Santiago painted pensive interiors and moody landscapes, Casas focused more on the portrait and figure with a penchant for costume and posture. His palette often consists of more muted tones with vibrant color accents. Casas enjoyed a lengthy and prominent career throughout Europe and South America where he often exhibited in shows with his friend Rusiñol. In Open Air Interior above, Casas encapsulates a quiet moment outdoors during tea time. I love these kind of paintings for their calm visual intensity. The way that man sits in his chair, lost in thought while his wife carefully stirs her tea...this is the kind of mindfulness in the subjects that makes us, the viewer, envision ourselves in this scene. Casas paints the far wall of the house

Isaac Levitan, Russian Poet of Nature

Before the Storm, 1890 Born August 30, 1860, Isaac Ilyich Levitan was a Russian landscape painter. Born in Congress Poland to a Jewish family, Levitan would study art in Moscow where he would become friends with Anton Chekov and his brother, Nikolay who was also an artist. Levitan's work has a unique mood that is very distinct from the Impressionism of France and the Classicism of Russia...sometimes compared to Monet but still different. Levitan has a rare presence with astute attention to detail and a fascination with light at different times of day. At times highly accurate, while in his more personal work deeply Impressionistic and imbued with rich tone and color. There is something about Levitan that lingers in your mind long after seeing his work...in a way that is individual and personal, not attached to a specific genre or movement, but to the world around him. In Before the Storm , Levitan captures a moment so stunning it seems to defy words...of sunlight piercing