id: 168335
accession number: 2010.166
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2010.166
updated: 2024-03-26 02:01:22.026000
Woman at the Spinet, 1860. François Bonvin (French, 1817–1887). Fabricated black chalk with touches of brown and red chalk and stumping ; sheet: 42 x 30.5 cm (16 9/16 x 12 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2010.166
title: Woman at the Spinet
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1860
creation date earliest: 1860
creation date latest: 1860
current location:
creditline: Bequest of Muriel Butkin
copyright:
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culture: France, 19th century
technique: fabricated black chalk with touches of brown and red chalk and stumping
department: Drawings
collection: DR - French
type: Drawing
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* François Bonvin (French, 1817–1887) - artist
Born into a poor family, François Bonvin was chiefly a self-taught artist. His childhood was an unhappy one, marked by the death of his mother when he was four, his father's remarriage, and the growing family's constant moving and change of fortune. From 1828 through 1830 he was lucky enough to be sent to the École de Dessin in Paris, but his artistic education was short-lived and he began working as a typesetter in 1832. He became a father one month after his marriage in 1837 and, in order to achieve financial security, applied for a clerk's job at the Paris Police Department-where he remained until 1850-while still working as a printer. Painting was still part of his life as attested by one of his first known oils, a still life from 1839. His health declined, and during a hospital-ization in 1842, Bonvin took up drawing again. He eventually returned to study at the École de Dessin and also at the Manufacture des Gobelins and in 1843 attended classes at the Académie Suisse where he could sketch from nude models. Around this time Bonvin was also introduced to Granet (q.v.), whom he would consider his true mentor, although never officially studying with him. Bonvin began painting scenes from everyday life, reflecting the simplicity and often the drudgery of the lower classes. He was encouraged in his choice of subject matter by Granet, who suggested he study the Dutch masters. Bonvin exhibited at the Salon from 1847 to 1880, receiving a second-class medal in 1850. The artist became involved in the realist movement, meeting regularly at the Brasserie Andler with, among others, his friends Jules Champfleury, a novelist and art critic, and Courbet (q.v.). During the Second Empire (1852-70) Bonvin earned a reputation with his still lifes and genre paintings that often paid tribute to the Dutch Old Masters. He traveled several times to the Netherlands in order to study such works. Bonvin also encour-aged younger painters, such as J. A. M. Whistler (1834-1903) and Fantin-Latour (q.v.), holding an exhibition of their works in his studio after they were rejected at the Salon. During his final years, Bonvin suffered from blindness and paralysis and died a broken man in 1887.
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measurements: Sheet: 42 x 30.5 cm (16 9/16 x 12 in.)
state of the work:
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support materials:
description: tan laid paper
watermarks:
inscriptions:
inscription: Signed and dated, lower left, black chalk: F. Bonvin 1860
translation:
remark:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art
opening date: 2012-09-26T00:00:00
Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art. Snite Museum, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN (organizer) (September 2-December 2, 2012).
title: Themes and Variations: Musical Drawings and Prints
opening date: 2015-01-25T00:00:00
Themes and Variations: Musical Drawings and Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 25-May 17, 2015).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* {'description': 'London: P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. Ltd (Feb. 20-March 27, 1975): "French Drawings, Post Neo-Classicism" cat. # 25, illustrated.', 'opening_date': '1975-02-20T00:00:00'}
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PROVENANCE
P&D Colnaghi & Co., Ltd., London, "French Drawings: Post Neo-Classicism," Spring Exhibition 1975 (lot #25, repr.); Williams & Son, London, December 11, 1975.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Snite Museum of Art, and Gabriel P. Weisberg. Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art. 2012.
page number: ex. cat. no. 13, p. 56-58
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.166/2010.166_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.166/2010.166_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2010.166/2010.166_full.tif