Author(s):
monnier, henry bonaventure (paris, 07–06–1799 - paris, 03–01–1877 — 3–6–1877), designer
villain, françois (buire-au-bois, in 1790 - in 1852), printer-lithographer
lami denozan, bookseller
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: 28. 3cm
width: 19. 2cm
dimensions - image:
height: 14. 2cm
width: 9. 3cm
dimensions - mounting:
height: 40cm
width: 30cm
description:
plate 36 from the series “les grisettes” by henry monnier, paris, giraldon et bovinet, 1827
marks, inscriptions, hallmarks:
inscription - above the image on the left: "grisettes" and on the right: "pl. 25" (corrected in pencil 36) under the image on the left: "henry monnier" and on the right: "lith. De villain, r. De sèvres, 23" under the letter in the middle: "published by lami denozan, bookseller, rue des fossés montmartre, n°4"
caption - below the image: does your wife know you are here?. . . . . . . Naughty monster?
iconographic description:
a middle-aged man greets two young women. He has taken off his hat and is holding his cane behind his back; he still has his hostess's hand in his. The second woman present is in the background, she is wearing a lace bonnet. 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: "in the morning, the young girl, hearing her lover's footsteps, could say to herself: -- he is here! when hippolyte returned to his mother at dinner time, he never failed to come and greet his neighbors; and in the evening he came running, at the usual time, with the punctuality of a lover. Thus, the most tyrannical woman and the most ambitious in love could not have made the slightest reproach to the young painter. So adelaide enjoyed unadulterated and boundless happiness in seeing the ideal realized in all its extent that it is so natural to dream of at her age. The old gentleman came less often, the jealous hippolyte had replaced him in the evening, on the green carpet, in his constant misfortune at the game. Situation of madame de rouville, because he had acquired more than one proof of her distress, he could not chase away an unwelcome thought. " [extract from la bourse, by honoré de balzac]
themes / subjects / places represented:
social subject, morals, grisette, cane, top hat
mode of acquisition: purchase
institution: maison de balzac
inventory number: bal 98-109. Date: 1827.
Loading...
