Edmond Maître

1869

Frédéric Bazille

Artist, French, 1841 - 1870

Shown from the lap up, a bearded, pale-skinned man wearing a suit faces our left in profile in this vertical portrait painting. The man looks down at an open book on his lap. He has a prominent, straight nose, high cheekbones, and the corner of his mouth turns down. His gleaming black hair is cut short and parted along the left, and his beard is trimmed. He wears a black vest and suit jacket, a black ascot polka dotted with white, and his white shirt is visible at the high collar and cuffs. A blue flower is threaded through his lapel, and he wears chestnut-brown pants. He holds one side of the book open with his left hand, closer to us, and holds a partially smoked, thin cigar with this other. The wood-framed chair has a curved, round-topped back. The background deepens from peanut-brown along the right to almost black near the top left corner. The artist signed and dated the painting at the top left, “F. Bazille. 1869.”

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 83 × 64.2 cm (32 11/16 × 25 1/4 in.)
    framed: 109.2 x 90.2 x 8.9 cm (43 x 35 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1985.64.2

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The sitter, Edmond Maître [d. 1898]; his brother, Léon Maître.[1] André Bazille, nephew of artist, from at least 1935 until 1941; Mme Rachou-Bazille, in 1959.[2] (Wildenstein, London, New York and Paris); sold August 1960 to Paul Mellon, Upperville, VA;[3] gift 1985 to NGA.
[1]See Michel Schulman, Frédéric Bazille, 1841-1870, catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1995, no. 48. [2] Lent by André Bazille to exhibitions in Paris in 1935 and 1937 and in Montpellier in 1941. Lent by Mme Rachou-Bazille to exhibition in Montpellier in 1959. [2]Acquisition date and source according to Paul Mellon records in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1935

  • Frederic Bazille, Association des Etudiants Protestants de Paris, Paris, 1935, no. 6, repro.

1937

  • Chefs d'oeuvres de l'art français, Palais National des Arts, Paris, 1937, no. 240

1941

  • Centenaire de Frédéric Bazille, Musée Fabre, Montpellier, 1941, no. 29

1950

  • Bazille, Wildenstein, Paris, 1950, no. 50

1952

  • Cent portraits d'hommes du XVIe siècle a nos jours, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 1952, no. 1

1959

  • Frédéric Bazille, Musée Fabre, Montpellier, 1959, no. 34

1962

  • Artmobile II ("Twelve Portraits: Delacroix to Gauguin"), sponsored by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1962, no. 11

  • Delacroix to Gauguin: Ten Portraits, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1962

1966

  • French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 111, repro.

1978

  • Frederic Bazille and Early Impressionism, Art Institute of Chicago, 1978, no. 37, repro.

1986

  • Gifts to the Nation: Selected Acquisitions from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1986, unnumbered checklist

1990

  • Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990, no. 38, repro.

1992

  • Frédéric Bazille et Ses Amis Impressionnistes, Pavillon du musée Fabre, Montpelier, France; Brooklyn Museum; Dixon Gallery & Gardens, Memphis, 1992-1993, no. 23, repro.

1999

  • Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

  • Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 22, repro.

2003

  • Frédéric Bazille, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, 2003-2004, no. 21, repro.

2011

  • Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The National Art Center, Tokyo; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, 2011, no. 1, repro.

2016

  • Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870) and The Birth of Impressionism, Musée Fabre, Montpelier; Musée d'Orsay, Paris; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2016-2017, no. 51, repro.

Bibliography

1966

  • Goldwater, Robert. "The Glory that was France." Art News 65 (March 1966): 42.

1990

  • Französische Impressionisten und ihre Wegbereiter aus der National Gallery of Art, Washington und dem Cincinnati Art Museum. Exh. cat. Neue Pinakothek, Munich, 1990: no. 38, repro.

1992

  • Daulte, François. Frédéric Bazille et les débuts de l'impressionisme. Paris, 1992:no. 52, repro.

1993

  • Bajou, Valérie. Frédéric Bazille 1841-1870. Aix-en-Provence, 1993:139-140, repro. 155

1995

  • Schulman, Michel. Frédéric Bazille 1841-1870: Catalogue raisonné. Paris, 1995:no. 48, repro.

1998

  • Pitman, Dianne W. Bazille: Purity, Pose, and Painting in the 1860s. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998: 185-187, repro. no. 123.

Inscriptions

upper left: F. Bazille. 1869

Wikidata ID

Q20188718

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