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''The Laundress'' () is a 1761
genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity ca ...
by French artist
Jean-Baptiste Greuze Jean-Baptiste Greuze (, 21 August 1725 – 4 March 1805) was a French painter of portraits, genre scenes, and history painting. Early life Greuze was born at Tournus, a market town in Burgundy. He is generally said to have formed his own ...
(1725–1805), existing in two versions. The subject of laundresses, also known as
washerwomen A washerwoman or laundress is a woman who takes in laundry. Both terms are now old-fashioned; equivalent work nowadays is done by a laundry worker in large commercial premises, or a laundrette (laundromat) attendant, who helps with handling wa ...
, was a popular one in art, especially in France. The
prime version In the art world, if an artwork exists in several versions, the one known or believed to be the earliest is called the prime version. Many artworks produced in media such as painting or carved sculpture which create unique objects are in fact r ...
of ''The Laundress'' was one of fourteen works exhibited by Greuze at the
Salon of 1761 '' Jean-Baptiste_Greuze.html" ;"title="The Village Bride'' by Jean-Baptiste Greuze">The Village Bride'' by Jean-Baptiste Greuze. The Salon of 1761 was an art exhibition held at the Louvre in Paris. Staged during the reign of Louis XV and at a time ...
and was part of the collection of Greuze's patron,
Ange Laurent Lalive de Jully Ange-Laurent de La Live de Jully (2 October 1725 – 18 March 1779) was an 18th-century French financier and patron of arts. On 30 June 1741, he married Louise-Elisabeth Chambon, reputed to be more than promiscuous. Madame d'Épinay tells us she ...
. The painting was mostly unknown for more than two centuries as it was purchased in 1770 by Gustaf Adolf Sparre and privately held in that Swedish art collection and rarely seen until it was acquired by the
Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthies ...
in 1983. Bailey, Colin B. (2000).
Jean-Baptiste Greuze: The Laundress
'. Getty Publications. .
The second version is now in the
Fogg Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...
, Harvard. At 39 x 31 cm, it is just slightly smaller than the Getty's, and also dated c. 1761. It was possibly created to allow a print to be made of the subject.


Background

French artist
Jean-Baptiste Greuze Jean-Baptiste Greuze (, 21 August 1725 – 4 March 1805) was a French painter of portraits, genre scenes, and history painting. Early life Greuze was born at Tournus, a market town in Burgundy. He is generally said to have formed his own ...
was a late-eighteenth-century
genre painter Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity ca ...
who was influenced by seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish artists. He first exhibited at the Salon of 1755, receiving great attention for his genre painting ''Un Père de famille qui lit la Bible à ses enfàns'' (''Father Reading the Bible to His Children'').Hallam, John Stephen (2015).
Salon of 1755
" Paris Salon Exhibitions: 1667–1880. A History in Collage. Retrieved August 28, 2015. Note, this site is a continuation o
research
Hallam did at Pacific Lutheran University.
Several years previously,
Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during th ...
began publishing the first modern form of art criticism, and became one of Greuze's admirers after they met in 1759. Greuze achieved even greater success at the Salon of 1761 with '' L'Accordée de village''.Fredericksen, Burton (1997). "French School". In
Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: Paintings
'. Getty Publications. p. 81. .
Greuze was considered one of the greatest painters of his time, but his popularity began to decline by the 1780s. After the French Revolution he lost everything and died penniless. Greuze was virtually forgotten by the art world for several centuries until his reemergence in the late twentieth century with the reappraisal of art from the
Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...
.


Development and exhibition

Greuze likely began working on ''The Laundress'' sometime in July 1761, around the same time as ''L'Accordée de village''. In drawing upon Dutch and Flemish cabinet paintings, Greuze may have found inspiration in the style of
Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
, and other artists and paintings such as Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin's '' The Kitchen Maid'' (1738),
Gerrit Dou Gerrit Dou (; 7 April 1613 – 9 February 1675), also known as Gerard Douw or Dow, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders. He specialised in genre scenes and is noted for h ...
's ''Girl Chopping Onions'' (1646),
Gabriël Metsu Gabriël Metsu (1629–1667) was a Dutch painter of history paintings, still lifes, portraits, and genre works. He was "a highly eclectic artist, who did not adhere to a consistent style, technique, or one type of subject for long periods". Onl ...
's ''The Laundress'' (1650), and
Jan Steen Jan Havickszoon Steen ( – buried 3 February 1679) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, one of the leading genre painters of the 17th century. His works are known for their psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour. Life ...
's ''Girl Offering Oysters'' (1658–1660).Fort, Bernadette (2007).
The Greuze Girl: The Invention of a Pictorial Paradigm
" ''Studies in the History of Art'', Vol. 72, Symposium Papers XLIX: French Genre Painting in the Eighteenth Century, pp. 128-151. National Gallery of Art.
Its development was influenced by Dutch
cabinet painting A cabinet painting (or cabinet picture) is a small painting, typically no larger than in either dimension, but often much smaller. The term is especially used for paintings that show full-length figures or landscapes at a small scale, rather th ...
and the imagery of the laundress made popular through a literary style known as '. Greuze exhibited a total of fourteen paintings at the Salon in September 1761, including ''The Laundress'' and ''L'Accordée de village''.


Description

A young
maidservant A handmaiden (nowadays less commonly handmaid or maidservant) is a personal maid or female servant. The term is also used metaphorically for something whose primary role is to serve or assist. Depending on culture or historical period, a handma ...
bends over to wring out linen with her hands as she stares provocatively at the viewer with a sensual, flirting glance. She appears unkempt, wearing clothes which cover her body and red mules on her feet, but her ankle and foot are exposed suggesting a lack of sexual restraint. A ''marabout'', a kettle used for boiling water, is seated on a small table in the lower left frame.


Provenance

Greuze's patron, Ange-Laurent de La Live de Jully, was the original owner of the painting. After he sold it in 1770, it passed through multiple Swedish collections for several centuries, including those of Count Gustaf Adolph Sparre, his wife Countess Amelie (Ramel) Sparre, their grandson Count Gustaf Adolf Frederik de la Gardie, his father Count Jakob Gustaf de la Gardie, who without further issue sold the entire collection to Count Carl de Geer, who gifted the entire collection to his granddaughter Countess Elizabeth (von Platen) Wachtmeister, who first created the Wachtmeister family trust of paintings and had the original collection inventory from 1794 updated by the Swedish art historian Georg Göthe. Her grandson Count Gustav Axel Wachtmeister died in 1978, and the Wachtmeister Family trust began selling the paintings, selling the ''Laundress'' to the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1983.Provenance
" ''The Laundress (La Blanchisseuse)''. The J. Paul Getty Museum. Retrieved September 1, 2015.


See also

*
Realism (arts) Realism in the arts is generally the attempt to Representation (arts), represent subject-matter truthfully, without artificiality, exaggeration, or speculative fiction, speculative or supernatural elements. The term is often used interchangeabl ...


Notes


References


Further reading

*Bailey, Colin B. (2002). ''Patriotic Taste: Collecting Modern Art in Pre-revolutionary Paris''. Yale University Press. . *Fredericksen, Burton (April 1985).
Recent Acquisitions of Paintings: The J. Paul Getty Museum: Supplement
" ''The Burlington Magazine'', 127 (985): 261–268.


External links

*
The Laundress
' at
The J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthiest a ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laundress, The 1761 paintings Paintings by Jean-Baptiste Greuze Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum Genre paintings