Louis-Léopold Boilly

Louis Léopold Boilly

French, 1761 - 1845

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French painter (1761-1845)

Explore Selected Works

Louis-Léopold Boilly, Self-Portrait, 1832, lithograph on wove paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2012.52.2

Self-Portrait

Louis-Léopold Boilly · 1832 · lithograph on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2012.52.2

Louis-Léopold Boilly, François Seraphin Delpech, Les amateurs de tableaux (The Picture Enthusiasts), 1823, crayon lithograph in black on wove paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1994.72.13

Les amateurs de tableaux (The Picture Enthusiasts)

Louis-Léopold Boilly, François Seraphin Delpech · 1823 · crayon lithograph in black on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1994.72.13

Louis-Léopold Boilly, Malvina Mortier de Trévise, c. 1810/1812, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.3

Malvina Mortier de Trévise

Louis-Léopold Boilly · c. 1810/1812 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.3

Shown from the waist up and in front of a dark background, a pale-skinned girl looks over her shoulder at us in this vertical portrait panting. She has wide-set hazel eyes under curved brows, a delicate nose, flushed cheeks, and her narrow, pink lips are closed over a pointed chin. Her brown hair falls in bangs to either side of her forehead and is otherwise pulled back. Her body is angled to our right almost in profile. Her white garment has a low neckline, high waist, and short, ruched sleeves. White fabric tucked into the neckline opens out to each side like a collar. The shadowy brown background behind her glows a little brighter around her head and neck.
Louis-Léopold Boilly, Caroline Mortier de Trévise, c. 1810/1812, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.2

Caroline Mortier de Trévise

Louis-Léopold Boilly · c. 1810/1812 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.2

Louis-Léopold Boilly, The Public in the Salon of the Louvre, Viewing the Painting of the "Sacre", begun 1808, pen and black ink with gray wash and watercolor over traces of graphite on laid paper, Woodner Collection, 1991.182.8

The Public in the Salon of the Louvre, Viewing the Painting of the "Sacre"

Louis-Léopold Boilly · begun 1808 · pen and black ink with gray wash and watercolor over traces of graphite on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1991.182.8

Fourteen men, women, and children focus their attention on a man fanning out a deck of cards in a town street in the right half of this horizontal painting. More men and women stand in small groups or walk in the left half. The women wear bonnets and long dresses and cloaks. The men wear jackets, slacks, and hats. The people all have pale or peachy skin. The man holding out the cards wears a plumed, bicorn hat, a thick white scarf around his neck, and a long, dark coat. His long gray hair is looped into a knot on his upper back, and a thick white sideburn curls along the cheek we see. He has a prominent nose, thin mustache, and his lips are parted as he faces our left in profile. Glints of gold on his hat and back of his coat could be bells, and he wears a gold hoop earring. A young woman with smooth skin, a low-cut, very pale green dress and matching bonnet reaches out to take a card. Another wearing a mob cap and cloak stands at her far shoulder, and two children stand between her and the cardsharp. A pair of young boys stand with the cardsharp, facing away from us and looking down at the cards. More men and women in earth-toned clothes, some tattered, gather in a tight cluster around a wooden table beyond this grouping. On the table is a metal cup and some glass balls, perhaps marbles. A small, furry, brown dog sits and looks up and to the right with dark eyes in the bottom right corner of the painting. This group is backed by a high wall, presumably enclosing a private garden. Trees reach into the cloud-streaked blue sky beyond the wall. Two more dogs walk among the townspeople who move along the street to the left. Building facades on the far side of the walkway are in shadow, but one is labeled Patissier. The artist signed and dated the painting near the lower left corner, “L. Boilly 1806.”
Louis-Léopold Boilly, The Card Sharp on the Boulevard, 1806, oil on wood, Gift of Victoria and Roger Sant, 2000.5.1

The Card Sharp on the Boulevard

Louis-Léopold Boilly · 1806 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  2000.5.1

Louis-Léopold Boilly, The Vaccine, 1806, pen and black ink and wash on laid paper, Gift of Dora Donner Ide in memory of William Henry Donner and in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1991.3.1

The Vaccine

Louis-Léopold Boilly · 1806 · pen and black ink and wash on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1991.3.1

In a room filled with easels, white plaster heads and statuettes, a box of paints, books, and papers, a young woman stands looking at a sketch and a young girl looks on, seated in an armchair, in this vertical painting. The scene is lit from the upper left, presumably from a window out of our view. Both women have smooth, pale skin, and their hair is swept up with curls framing their faces. They face our right in profile so their faces are in gentle shadow. They have straight noses, and their rose-pink lips are closed. They wear gowns with short sleeves, low, scooped necks, and floor-length skirts cinched under the bust. In the center of the painting, the young woman has chestnut-brown hair and wears a white gown tied with a sky-blue ribbon. She stands in front of a portfolio propped up against a tall easel. The portfolio is made of two stiff boards that tie together with pale blue ribbon to secure large sheets of paper. She rests her right hand, closer to us, on the front board of the portfolio and looks down at the sketch on a gray piece of paper she holds with her other hand. Next to her and closer to us, the younger girl sits in a gold chair upholstered with olive-green velvet. She faces our right almost in profile, and she looks up toward the drawing the other woman holds. The girl in the chair has blond hair and a gold-colored dress. Her feet are propped on a gold footstool, and she holds another portfolio on her lap. She supports the portfolio and holds a piece of paper with one hand, and a stylus or brush in the other hand, up by her chin. To the right of the easel, a wooden table holds a collection of plaster casts of faces, a hand, and small-scale bodies along with a glass vessel and a few other tools. Two translucent green bottles, boxes, a book, and a terracotta vase are collected on the footstool and the floor around the base of the easel. Garnet-red cloths are draped down the front of the table to our right and behind the girl on the chair. Next to her chair, in the lower left corner of the composition, is a wooden box with a paint palette and a handful of thin paintbrushes. A scroll of paper lies next to the box. A shelf at the standing girl’s shoulder height and behind the pair, to our left, is piled with white busts of a man, child, and woman, more figurines, and a brush in a small cup, all arranged across a moss-green cloth. The space with the girls and artist’s tools is enclosed by a large, dark brown form, presumably a canvas in shadow, that leans against the tall easels and mostly cuts off a view into the rest of the room. A glimpse of shadowy capitals is seen over the board, across the top of the painting, to suggest that a row of columns recedes into the space beyond. The artist signed the work as if he had painted his name on the floor next to the scroll, “L. Boilly.”
Louis-Léopold Boilly, A Painter's Studio, c. 1800, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1943.7.1

A Painter's Studio

Louis-Léopold Boilly · c. 1800 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1943.7.1

Bibliography

1898

  • Harrisse, Henri. L.L. Boilly, peintre, dessinateur et lithographe. Sa Vie et son oeuvre, 1761-1845. Paris, 1898.

1913

  • Marmottan, Paul. Le Peintre Louis Boilly (1761-1845). Paris, 1913.

1929

  • de la Monneraye, Jean. "Documents sur la vie du peintre Louis Boilly pendant la Révolution." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français (1929): 15-30.

1931

  • Mabille de Poncheville, André. Boilly. Paris, 1931.

1958

  • Benisovitch, Michel N. "Une Autobiographie du peintre Louis Boilly." In Essays in Honor of Hans Tietze. Paris, 1958: 365-372.

1984

  • Louis Boilly (1761-1845). Exh. cat. Musée Marmottan, Paris, 1984.

1989

  • Boilly, 1761/1845. Exh. cat. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lille, 1989.

1995

  • Siegfried, Susan L. The Art of Louis-Léopold Boilly: Modern Life in Napoleonic France. Exh. cat. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1995-1996. New Haven, Fort Worth, and Washington, 1995.

2000

  • Eitner, Lorenz. French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I: Before Impressionism. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 3-4.