Still Life with Bottle, Carafe, Bread, and Wine

c. 1862/1863

Claude Monet

Artist, French, 1840 - 1926

Two bottles, a carafe, drinking glass, plate, knife, and loaf of bread are arranged on a table covered with a white cloth in this horizontal still-life painting. The narrow table angles from the lower left toward the wall to our right. The bright white cloth is slightly rumpled, and the shadows are painted with silvery gray. A clear glass, square-bodied bottle holding amber-brown liquid extends off the left edge of the canvas. Next to it, a long-necked carafe filled halfway with clear liquid has a low, wide belly. The black handle of the knife angles toward us in the lower left corner, the blade pointing back to the other objects on the table. Just beyond the knife is a glass with a low stem and tall bowl, a silver-colored plate holding yellow material, perhaps bread or butter, and a green bottle filled about a third of the way with dark liquid, presumably red wine. The long loaf of bread is at the far side of the table. One round, crusty end of the loaf has been broken off and lies nearby. The room behind the table has nickel-gray walls on either side of a brown rectangle, perhaps a door or panel. A dark brown square along the top of the composition is hard to interpret. The objects and setting are loosely painted so some details are indistinct.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 39.69 × 59.85 cm (15 5/8 × 23 9/16 in.)
    framed: 55.25 × 75.88 × 6.99 cm (21 3/4 × 29 7/8 × 2 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    2014.18.32


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Gift of the artist to Eugene Boudin [1894-1898].[1] Edmond Mâitre [1840-1898], Paris; his wife, Mme Maître;[2] sold 1899 to (Durand-Ruel, Paris). Collection Lafon, from 1912; (Durand-Ruel, Paris), by 1957.[3] (Sam Salz, New York); purchased 1958 by Leigh B. [1905-1987] and Mary Lasker [1904-1981] Block, Chicago; (their sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 20 May 1981, no. 317); Paul Mellon [1907-1999], Upperville, Virginia; bequest 1999 to NGA, with life estate to his wife, Rachel Lambert Mellon [1910-2014].
[1] The provenance is given in the 1981 sale catalogue of the Block collection.
[2] This detail is in Daniel Wildenstein, Monet: Cataloge raisonné - Werkverzeichnis, 4 vols., Cologne and Paris, 1996: 2:13, no. 13.
[3] The dealer lent the painting to Claude Monet, a 1957 exhibition shown in Edinburgh and London.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1957

  • Claude Monet, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh; The Tate Gallery, London, 1957, no. 3, pl. 12b.

1967

  • 100 European Paintings & Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1967-1968, no. 14 (Washington and Los Angeles catalogue), no. 16 (Boston catalogue), repro.

1975

  • Paintings by Monet, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1975, no. 1, repro.

2020

  • ONE EACH: Still Life by Pissarro, Cézanne, Manet, & Friends, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, 2020 - 2022, brochure, fig. 8.

Bibliography

1946

  • Rewald, John. The History of Impressionism. New York, 1946: 36, repro. 37.

1974

  • Wildenstein, Daniel. Claude Monet: biographie et catalouge raisonné. 5 vols. Lausanne and Paris, 1974-1991: 2:126, no. 13, repro. 127.

1978

  • Isaacson, Joel. Claude Monet: Observation and Reflection. Oxford and New York, 1978: repro. 49, 193, no. 1.

1996

  • Wildenstein, Daniel. Monet [vol. 1: The Triumph of Impressionism; vols. 2-4: Catalogue raisonné - Werkverzeichnis]. 4 vols. Cologne and Paris, 1996: 2:repro. 12, 13, no. 13.

2014

  • Kelly, Franklin. "A Lasting Legacy: The Completion of an Unparalleled Gift." National Gallery of Art Bulletin no. 51 (Fall 2014): 14-15, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20188632


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