Author(s):
monnier, henry bonaventure (paris, 07–06–1799 - paris, 03–01–1877 — 3–6–1877), designer
gaugain, henri-armand pierre, printer-lithographer
ardit, e. , editor
other title: les grisettes (title of the series)
date of production: 1827
type(s) of object(s): graphic arts, print
name(s): print
materials and techniques: vellum paper, watercolor, lithography
dimensions - artwork:
height: 27. 6cm
width: 19. 5cm
dimensions - image:
height: 12. 4cm
width: 9. 2cm
dimensions - mounting:
height: 40cm
width: 30cm
description:
plate 9 from the series "les grisettes" by henry monnier, paris, ardit et gaugain, 1827
marks, inscriptions, hallmarks:
inscription - above the image on the left: "grisettes" and on the right: "pl. 9" under the image on the left: "henry monnier" and on the right: "lith. De h. Gaugain" under the letter in the middle: "published by e. Ardit rue de la monnaie, n°11 and ch. Henri gaugain, r. Vivienne n°2"
caption - under the image: you are very kind
iconographic description:
two young people are sitting side by side. The young man is sitting backwards in his chair, his arms crossed and resting on the backrest, he rests his chin on them with an air of deep boredom. The young woman is sewing a fabric which unfolds on a chair placed in front of her. She turns a pinched face towards her companion. 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: "this salon was therefore a kind of provincial salon, but lit by the reflections of the continual parisian fire, its mediocrity, its platitudes followed the torrent of the century. The fashionable word and the thing, because in paris, the word and the thing is like the horse and the rider, always arrived there by ricochet. We were always waiting mr. Minard, before knowing the truth in the major circumstances, the women supported the jesuits, the men defended the university; but generally the women listened, if he could have endured the boredom of these evenings, he would have laughed as if at a molière comedy, learning after long discussions things similar to these: could the revolution of 1789 be avoided? [excerpt from les petits bourgeois, by honoré de balzac]
themes / subjects / places represented:
subject of society, morals, grisette, chair, sewing and needlework
mode of acquisition: purchase
institution: maison de balzac
inventory number: bal 98-126. Date: 1827.
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