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A mound of creamy, yellow butter sits to our left of center on a wooden table against an olive-green background in this horizontal still life painting. White cloth, presumably the wrapper or cover, is pushed down around the base of the mound to expose the heap of butter. The top of the mound has a few gouge marks and furrows. A long, narrow wooden paddle is stuck vertically into the right side of the mound, and is submerged almost up to the handle in butter. Two white eggs rest on the table in front of the white fabric, to our right of center. Loose brushstrokes are visible throughout, so the swipes of paint seem to almost become the butter. The artist signed the painting with black letters in the lower left corner: “A. Vollon.”

Antoine Vollon

Mound of Butter, 1875/1885

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 50.2 x 61 cm (19 3/4 x 24 in.)

framed: 68 x 78.1 x 7.6 cm (26 3/4 x 30 3/4 x 3 in.)

Credit Line

Chester Dale Fund

Accession Number

1992.95.1

Artists / Makers

Antoine Vollon (painter) French, 1833 - 1900

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

lower left: A.Vollon

Provenance

(Galerie André Watteau).[1] (Galerie Jonas, Paris); purchased 23 October 1992 by NGA.

[1] A Vollon painting titled Motte de beurre avec deux oeufs is mentioned as being with Galerie André Watteau; see Sophie Monneret, L'Impressionisme et son époque. Dictionnaire internationale illustré, 4 vols., Paris, 1978-1981: 3(1980): 59.

Associated Names

Galerie Jonas

Exhibition History

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

1999: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 20, repro.

2004: Antoine Vollon (1833-1900), 'A Painter's Painter', Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, 2004-2005, no. 47, repro.

2013: Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art, Museo dell'Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome (exhibition title in this venue: Impressionist Gems); California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, Seattle Art Museum, 2013-2016.

Bibliography

1978: Monneret, Sophie, L'Impressionnisme et son Époque 4 vols. Paris, 1978-1981:III:59.

1998: Hardouin-Fugier, Élisabeth. Les peintres de natures mortes en France au XIXe siècle. Paris, 1998: 15, repro. 14.

2019: Smee, Sebastian. "Art That Makes a Lasting Impression." Washington Post 142, no. 333 (November 3, 2019): E8, color repro.