Author(s):
monnier, henry bonaventure (paris, 07–06–1799 - paris, 03–01–1877 — 3–6–1877), designer-lithographer
giraldon-bovinet, editor
bernard, charles louis (paris, 29–06–1769 - paris, 11–09–1848), designer-lithographer
other title: recreation (series title)
dating in century: 19th century
type(s) of object(s): graphic arts, print
name(s): print
materials and techniques: vellum paper, watercolor, lithography
dimensions - artwork:
height: 23. 1cm
width: 31. 2cm
dimensions - image:
height: 13. 6cm
width: 16. 7cm
dimensions - mounting:
height: 40cm
width: 30cm
description:
colored print
marks, inscriptions, hallmarks:
title of the work - above the image: recreations
legend - in the lower left image: the benefit and the burdenin the lower right image: a child of apollo
inscription concerning the author - under the image on the left: henry monnier
registration concerning the test - under the image on the right: lith by bernardunder the image in the center: published by giraldon bovinet, passage vivienne, n°26. Iconographic description:
on the left of the composition: a young man wearing a top hat and holding his umbrella like a parade rifle, gives his arm to an elegant young woman as well as to a pot-bellied man. On the right of the composition: a violinist, with wild hair and a prominent stomach, stands in front of his score. Actor, playwright and designer, henry monnier helped illustrate la comédie humaine. His engravings of administrative morals, and especially his play scenes from bureaucratic life, clearly inspired balzac for his novel la femme supérieure, renamed les employés. The same references to the customs of their time often inspired the two artists in parallel on numerous subjects as we can see in the following extract: "the solution to this terrible problem can only be found in constant, sustained work, because the material difficulties must be so overcome, the hand must be so chastened, so ready and obedient, that the sculptor can fight soul to soul with this elusive moral nature which must be transfigured by materializing it. If paganini, who did telling his soul through the strings of his violin, had he spent three days without studying, he would have lost, according to his expression, the register of his instrument; he thus designated the marriage existing between the wood, the bow, the strings and this dissolved chord, he would have suddenly become an ordinary violinist. " [excerpt from la cousine bette, by honoré de balzac]
themes / subjects / places represented:
subject of society, morals, violin, umbrella
institution: maison de balzac
inventory number: bal91. 81. Date: Unknown.
Loading...
