58. Boy from Vitré

Nicolae Grigorescu is concerned with depicting on canvas human types and physiognomies from modest social layers, which could be encountered on the streets of our cities, or in countries such as France and Italy. He dedicates entire series to these characters, without depriving them of charm and often representing them in picturesque postures. Grigorescu's models occupy professions such as street vendors or models in artists' workshops, or illustrate certain typologies, or social positions. We can mention from these series some works painted in the country, such as "The Shepherd" (1867), "The Lemon Vendor" (1870), or others executed in France during his studies (especially models in the studio) or works made later, in 1874, when Caravaggio's painting from Italian museums will have attracted Grigorescu. From this last category, we mention "Pifferaro" and "Il Sor Vincenzio", the latter being made in Rome, or "The Rope Maker, figure of a Neapolitan boy", today located in the Brasov Art Museum. Thus, we can register this work within the cycle of canvases dating from the 1860s and 1870s of Nicolae Grigorescu's artistic corpus, of human physiognomy, which can be considered socio-psychological typologies. In these works, the artist concurrently studies the relationships between light and shadow, situated at the limit with the nocturne. We can interpret these works as preliminary evidence of the maturity stage of Nicolae Grigorescu's artistic corpus, when the theme of dusk, whether deepened in the portrait chapter, or in the plein air chapter, becomes one of the artist's preferences. We can also register this work among the studies mentioned earlier, due to the explored themes and the style adopted. Standing out through its monochrome of browns and ochres, this study brings together Nicolae Grigorescu's interest in rendering the silhouette and the specific physiognomic expression of the character with the interest for a nocturnal setting. The diffuse light that bathes the image, focused mainly on the model, contributes to the gloomy atmosphere. The subject, probably a French shepherd or a poor child, wearing a small hat, a traditional cape, and small shoes, is sheltered next to a wall. A note of strangeness and mystery of this child's figure is added by the absent, melancholic gaze, which seeks to depict the child's psychology. The chromatics of the work, as well as the study of light, evoke a series of monochrome studies of lonely figures located in darkness or in half-light, carried out by Grigorescu towards 1867-1876. Thus, "Boy from Vitre" examines in the style established by Nicolae Grigorescu a certain human typology, associated with a precarious social environment.

References

BELDIMAN, Ioana, COSMA, Gheorghe, "Nicolae Grigorescu, painting-graphics", Bucharest, Art Museum of the Socialist Republic of Romania, 1984. BOURET, Jean, "School of Barbizon and the french landscape in the 19th century", Editions Ides and Calendes, Neuchâtel [n.d.]. CIOFLEC, Virgil, "Grigorescu", National Culture, Bucharest, 1925. DRĂGĂNUȘ, Ovidia, "Nicolae Grigorescu in the art gallery of the regional Museum of Brașov", Brașov, 1967. NICULESCU, Remus, "N.Grigorescu, Exhibition catalogue", Bucharest, Art Museum of People's Republic of Romania, 1957. OPRESCU, G. [-R.Niculescu], "N.Grigorescu", vol 1, Ed.Meridiane, Bucharest, 1961.

Dimensions

width 23 cm, height 36 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed lower left, in red, "Grigorescu"

Research information

The work is classified in the Fund category of the National Cultural Mobile Heritage, by the order of the Minister of Culture, no. 2006, from 08.01.2013.

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