拍品專文
Dantan's Un Moulange sur Nature was the most celebrated painting of the 1887 Paris Salon. It also was selected to represent "1887" in the ten year retrospective selection of the great centennial exhibition of French paintings at the Exposition Universelle in 1889. When paintings were this highly acclaimed, artists often were asked to make "replicas." Our painting is a replica painted in the same year as Dantan's salon entry. The differences between the two paintings are barley discernible. The model in the salon picture (which is today in the Goteborg Museum, Sweden) is slightly older, and the knife and the sponge on the stool are placed at different angles. Otherwise, the two paintings are identical.
Dantan's father was the acclaimed sculptor, Jean Pierre Dantan and the interior of a studio would have been a familiar sight for the young Dantan during his youth. In fact, his 1880 salon entry also depicted the corner of a studio. The tradition of showing an artist in his studio was longstanding in France, the most famous interpretation being Courbet's great work of 1855, a painting which launched Realism. Gérôme also treated this subject as early as 1849 when he showed Michelangelo in his studio with the Belvedere Torso, and it also provided the subject matter for several late works - really self-portraits depicting Gérôme at work with a model in his studio. Dantan's 1887 painting therefore appealed to a Salon jury that already was receptive to this subject matter. The commentary was extensive and focused on the depiction of the realistic young nude as the critic, G. Ollendorf noted: "La jeune personne, montée sur la sillette, représent agréablement le type de la Parisian effilé, qui n'est pas eloigné, comme on sait, des figures de baigneuse caressées par le ciseau d'Allegrain." (Salon de 1887, Paris, 1887, Paris, 1887, pp. 59-61). many of the reviewers were impressed with Dantan's use of a monochromatic pallette, and especially his mastery of white on white. Certainly, the interior of a sculpture studio with its plaster dust, wet plaster and plaster casts combined with the creamy fleshtones of a young models' body provided the ideal setting for an artist who wanted to explore a tonal palette of whites, creams, and beiges.
Dantan's sculptor's studio is filled with a variety of details. A few of the plaster casts may be identified. A reduced copy of Michelangelo's Dying Slave is placed next to a standing Venus figure. Resting on the top shelf, what would appear to be a smiling terracotta bust by Carpeaux shares space with a plaster bust of a woman. Nearby, a headless upper torso is pinned to the wall, and directly below, an elegant Renaissance lady rests on a wooden stool. These are all the products of the tools of the sculptor's trade which also are scattered throughout the composition: a mortar and pestle to grind the plaster, a sack of dry plaster that has spilled on the floor, a bucket of water and earthenware bowls filled with wet plaster are neatly arranged on the shelves. Two men, most likely the young sculptor dressed in a white smock and his older assistant, wearing an apron, carefully remove the cast from the model's left leg. Her fatigue, or perhaps impatience is emphasized by her pose. Dantan has even embellished this young girl with wonderful details from the tiny earring that dangles from her ear to the gold bracelet on her left wrist. Her legs and feet are dusted with the white powder of the plaster.
Dantan's attention to detail and his acute observation of his surroundings reveal him to be a true Realist painter. His works, such as Un Moulage sur Nature, depict an aspect of la vie moderne that he saw around him. One may compare him to Emile Zola, who put into words what painters such as Dantan recorded in paint.
Dantan's father was the acclaimed sculptor, Jean Pierre Dantan and the interior of a studio would have been a familiar sight for the young Dantan during his youth. In fact, his 1880 salon entry also depicted the corner of a studio. The tradition of showing an artist in his studio was longstanding in France, the most famous interpretation being Courbet's great work of 1855, a painting which launched Realism. Gérôme also treated this subject as early as 1849 when he showed Michelangelo in his studio with the Belvedere Torso, and it also provided the subject matter for several late works - really self-portraits depicting Gérôme at work with a model in his studio. Dantan's 1887 painting therefore appealed to a Salon jury that already was receptive to this subject matter. The commentary was extensive and focused on the depiction of the realistic young nude as the critic, G. Ollendorf noted: "La jeune personne, montée sur la sillette, représent agréablement le type de la Parisian effilé, qui n'est pas eloigné, comme on sait, des figures de baigneuse caressées par le ciseau d'Allegrain." (Salon de 1887, Paris, 1887, Paris, 1887, pp. 59-61). many of the reviewers were impressed with Dantan's use of a monochromatic pallette, and especially his mastery of white on white. Certainly, the interior of a sculpture studio with its plaster dust, wet plaster and plaster casts combined with the creamy fleshtones of a young models' body provided the ideal setting for an artist who wanted to explore a tonal palette of whites, creams, and beiges.
Dantan's sculptor's studio is filled with a variety of details. A few of the plaster casts may be identified. A reduced copy of Michelangelo's Dying Slave is placed next to a standing Venus figure. Resting on the top shelf, what would appear to be a smiling terracotta bust by Carpeaux shares space with a plaster bust of a woman. Nearby, a headless upper torso is pinned to the wall, and directly below, an elegant Renaissance lady rests on a wooden stool. These are all the products of the tools of the sculptor's trade which also are scattered throughout the composition: a mortar and pestle to grind the plaster, a sack of dry plaster that has spilled on the floor, a bucket of water and earthenware bowls filled with wet plaster are neatly arranged on the shelves. Two men, most likely the young sculptor dressed in a white smock and his older assistant, wearing an apron, carefully remove the cast from the model's left leg. Her fatigue, or perhaps impatience is emphasized by her pose. Dantan has even embellished this young girl with wonderful details from the tiny earring that dangles from her ear to the gold bracelet on her left wrist. Her legs and feet are dusted with the white powder of the plaster.
Dantan's attention to detail and his acute observation of his surroundings reveal him to be a true Realist painter. His works, such as Un Moulage sur Nature, depict an aspect of la vie moderne that he saw around him. One may compare him to Emile Zola, who put into words what painters such as Dantan recorded in paint.