Polka Dots 2

After painting visitors in the Louvre-Lens museum, my earlier painting Polka Dot looked rough in comparison. This is because I used not much painting medium. I decided to rework it with paint mixed with refined linseed oil.

Polka Dot 2 - Oil on canvas panel (6" x 8") by Benoit Philippe

Follow the link to see the previous version, Polka Dot.

Pissarro on Mary Cassatt’s prints

I had the chance to see some prints by Mary Cassatt in 2007, at the Impressionnism from France and America Exhibition.

These prints are delicate and very personnal in their subject and execution. Mary Cassatt was clearly impired by Japanese prints, but re-interpreted with day to day western life themes.

"Under the horse chestnut tree", 1 print: drypoint and aquatint, color by Mary Cassatt [Source: Wikimedia] 

Camille Pissarro, who exhibited with Mary Cassatt and did some engravings himself, was interested in the technique the American artist used. In a letter dated April 3, 1891, he wrote to his son Lucien:

“It is absolutely necessary, while what I saw yesterday at Miss Cassatt's is still fresh in mind, to tell you about the colored engravings she is to show at Durand-Ruel's at the same time as I. (…)

You remember the effects you strove for at Eragny? Well, Miss Cassatt has realized just such effects, and admirably: the tone even, subtle, delicate, without stains on seams: adorable blues, fresh rose, etc. Then what must we have to succeed? . . . money, yes, just a little money. We had to have copper-plates, a boite a grain, this was a bit of a nuisance but it is absolutely necessary to have uniform and imperceptible grains and a good printer. But the result is admirable, as beautiful as Japanese work, and it's done with printer's ink!”

The Lamp – print by Mary Cassatt [Source: Wikimedia]

In another letter to Lucien dated April 25, 1891, he gives more details on Cassatt’s technique:

“Before leaving Paris I went to see Miss Cassatt. I watched her make color prints of her aquatints. Her method is the same as ours except that she does not use pure colors, she mixes her tones and thus is able to get along with only two plates. The drawback is that she cannot obtain pure and luminous tones, however her tones are attractive enough. We will have to make a more definitive trial of our own method to determine which is to be preferred.”

  

The Bath (1890-1891) by Mary Cassatt - drypoint and aquatint on laid paper - plate: 32.1 x 24.8 cm (12 5/8 x 9 3/4 in.) - sheet: 43.7 x 30.5 cm (17 3/16 x 12 in.) [Source: NGA]

 

Maternal Caress (1890-1891) by Mary Cassatt - Color drypoint and aquatint on cream laid paper; plate: 36.8 x 26.8 cm (14 1/2 x 10 9/16 in.); sheet: 43.5 x 30.3 cm (17 1/8 x 11 15/16 in.) [Source: NGA]

  

Related resources

• To buy the book in the US (Affiliate link): Camille Pissarro: Letters to His Son, Lucien
• To buy the book in the UK (Affiliate link): Camile Pissarro: Letters to His Son (Artworks)
• Letters to his son Lucien (1943) by Camille Pissarro is also available for free online and in different ebook formats at Archive.org.

 Book with Mary Cassatt’s prints

• Mary Cassatt: Paintings and Prints (Affiliate link – Amazon US)
• Mary Cassatt: Paintings and Prints (Affiliate link – Amazon UK)

Is that Diderot?

This is the second painting in the Louvre-Lens series, after Louvre-Lens meditation. The painting this visitor is looking at is by Fragonard. The current title is "Figure of fantasy", but it used to be called "Diderot's portrait" (the French philosopher), which is now contested. You can see this painting in my post on the Paintings in the Louvre-Lens museum.

Is that Diderot? - Oil on canvas panel (6" x 8") by Benoit Philippe

Louvre-Lens meditation

While I visited Louvre-Lens museum, I took some photographs of the other visitors admiring the works on display. I am going to make a series and this is the first painting.

Louvre-Lens meditation - Oil on canvas panel (6" x 8") by Benoit Philippe

Paintings in the Louvre-Lens museum

In my previous post, I presented the Louvre-Lens museum and some of the works on display. In this second post, I will concentrate on the paintings.

Portrait of a woman (Oil on panel) by Giovanni Francesco Caroto

This portrait first entered the Louvre collection as a work by Carpaccio. It was later attributed to Costa, Solario and Boltraffio, until the artist’s signature was revealed by an X-ray scan of the painting.

Volterra (Tuscany, Italy) – the Citadel (Oil on canvas) by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot

Corot painted this work during his second stay in Italy, in 1834. There is a companion painting in the Louvre collection called Volterra, le municipe.

The Holy Trinity with God the Father supporting Christ (Oil on wood panel) by Colijn de Coter

This painting was in fact the central part of a triptych.

Antonio de Covarrubias y Leiva (1514-1602) – Jurist and Scholar by El Greco

The sitter was canon of Toledo Cathedral and a friend of El Greco.

Melancholy (Oil on canvas, circa 1618-16230 by Domenico Fetti

Mariana Waldstein, Ninth Marchioness of Santa Cruz (Oil on canvas, circa 1797-1800) by Goya

Mariana Waldstein (detail of the background)

The Punished Son (Oil on canvas) by Jean-Baptiste Greuze.

The Punished Son is the pendant to another painting called The Father’s Curse, which also belongs to the collection of the Louvre. It is based on the Biblical story of the prodigal son.

Liberty Leading the People (28 July 1830) (Oil on canvas) by Eugène Delacroix

Magdalene with the Smoking Flame (Oil on canvas) by Georges de la Tour

It is interesting to compare this painting with other Georges de La Tour’s earlier works on the same subject that are in the County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, the Washington National Gallery of Art  and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Landscape with Paris and Oenone, also called The Ford (Oil on canvas) by Claude Lorrain

This painting was is the collection of Louis XIV (acquired from the duke of Richelieu in 1665)

Anton Fugger, banker and humanist by Hans Maler

Baldassare Castiglione, writer and diplomat – oil on canvas by Raphael

Francis George Hare as a child, known as Master Hare (Oil on canvas) by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Ixion, King of the Lapiths, Deceived by Juno (Oil on canvas) by Rubens

Fanciful figure (Oil on canvas) by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Saint Sebastian (Oil on Wood board) by Perugino

The painting bears a sentence in Latin SAGITTAE. TUAE.INFIXAE. SUNT. MICHI coming from Psalm 37 (For thy arrows are fastened in me).

The Nest, also known as The Shepherd’s Gift (Oil on canvas) by François Boucher

Saint Matthew and the Angel (Oil on canvas) by Rembrandt

Practical information

Musée du Louvre-Lens
99 Rue Paul Bert, 62300 Lens, France
Website of Louvre-Lens museum: http://www.louvrelens.fr/

Access to the main gallery is free
Temporary exhibition: charge applies