47. Interior at Rucăr [1870]

For the research of the work, the title present in the Grigorescu monograph by Vlahuță represents a precious piece of information: it indicates a location and an area favored by the artist in search for human typologies, scenes, specific Romanian landscapes that he intended to insert in his future work which he already foresaw, built in the vein of a national anthology. Through the dating recorded bottom right, 1870, and the defining pictorial characteristics of the image, this work is part of the period that followed Grigorescu's return to his home country, after his formation period (1862-1869) spent in Paris, Barbizon, Marlotte. In the presented work, Grigorescu is interested, as in the Barbizon phase, in the realism of rustic life images. He constructs this scene from a rural tailor's workshop, both thematically and pictorially close to French artists such as Léon Llhermitte (1844- 1925), a contemporary of his, and an exhibitor at the Paris Salon. However, a direct comparison between Grigorescu's rustic themed paintings from the 1870s and the French ones (Courbet, Millet, partially Lhermitte) defines different realistic registers of sensitivity; the emotional note obtained by Grigorescu through light contrasts does not aim for the harsh dramatic accents, achieved by the French painters through opting for scenes of hard work and through the expressiveness of the drawing. Grigorescu now starts from a simple genre scene taking place in a modest artisanal interior, creating a dialogue between the dimly lit interior and the powerful light source bursting through the double-winged window. He displays in highly precious contrasts of shadows and light and a palette dominated by reddish browns. Positioned on the right of the image, the protagonist is seen in profile, sitting on a bed while working. The young man's silhouette of the tailor is silhouetted in brown against the white area of the window. The entire image is freely painted, devoid of descriptive details; volumes and masses are made up of pictorial matter, like a clay stretched and modeled by a sculptor. On the left of the composition, a pictorial detail asking to be discovered, marks differently the image: the tailor's essential work material, strips of silky textiles displayed on a shelf (a bed?) provide Grigorescu an interpolation of extremely delicate colored strokes - pinks, copper, yellowish green, white. Grigorescu will return all his life to the motif of the exterior light penetrating the rural household, allowing the woman the act of handwork, in paintings executed either in Romania or in France, with various compositional variations and models. We only signal one case, the kinship of the work analyzed here with another, with a very similar theme and dating from the same period: Sewing/Maria Ghigorț, the artist's sister (Ionescu-Quintus family collection; Artmark Winter Auction, December 17, 2019). Tailor in Rucăr was part of the collection of engineer Eugen Ștefănescu at least between 1910 and 1938. (I.B.)

References

Romanian Academy and the City of Bucharest, Centenary Exhibition of the painter Nicolae Grigorescu under the high patronage of H.M. King Carol II 1838-1938, June 12-30, 1938, Bucharest, cat. no. 58. G.Oprescu [- R.Niculescu}, N. Grigorescu, vol.2, Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1962, il. 187 , pp. 186, 281 , cat. 187. A.Vlahuta, The painter N.I.Grigorescu.His life and his work, edition of the Houses of Schools, Socec, 1910, p.121, 257.

Dimensions

width 30.5 cm, height 18.5 cm

Description

oil on canvas glued to cardboard, signed and dated lower right, in red, "Grigorescu, 1870"

Research information

The artwork was featured in the "Centenary Exhibition of Nicolae Grigorescu under the high patronage of H.M. King Carol II, 1838-1938, 12-30 June 1938", Bucharest, cat. 58, named "Tailor at Rucăr". The artwork is reproduced in the Minerva Calendar, 1908, titled "Working by the Window". The artwork is reproduced in "Nicolae Grigorescu, vol. 2" by George Oprescu, Meridiane Publishing House, Bucharest, 1962, cat. 187. The artwork is reproduced in "The Painter Grigorescu. His life and work" by Alexandru Vlahuță, Bucharest, 1910, page 121.

Dating

1870

PROVENANCE

Eng. Eugen Ștefănescu's collection.

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