Provenance

Edmond Maître

French, 1840 - 1898

Explore selected works

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.
Claude Monet, Still Life with Bottle, Carafe, Bread, and Wine, c. 1862/1863, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2014.18.32

Still Life with Bottle, Carafe, Bread, and Wine

Claude Monet · c. 1862/1863 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.18.32

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.”
Frédéric Bazille, Edmond Maître, 1869, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.2

Edmond Maître

Frédéric Bazille · 1869 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.2

Holding a bunch of peonies in one hand, a woman with brown skin leans forward, toward us from behind a large basket holding dozens of flowers in this horizontal painting. The basket holding the flowers spans the width of the canvas, and the woman is shown behind it from the chest up. She wears a cream-white, long-sleeved blouse with scalloped trim around the high neck. She wears coral-red earrings, and a plaid cloth in tones of rust red, slate blue, pale purple, and black is tied tightly over her black hair, which is visible over her ears. Her brow is slightly furrowed, and she looks at us with large, dark eyes. Her full mouth is closed, the corners faintly downturned. She reaches her right arm, on our left, toward us with a bouquet of three pink-and-white peonies and greenery. Her basket is filled with yellow and red tulips, pink roses, white and purple lilac, and other white, pink, yellow, and blue flowers, and it takes up the bottom third of the composition. The woman and basket are shown against a dove-gray background. The artist prominently signed and dated the work with red letters near the upper right corner, near the woman’s head: “F. Bazille. 1870.”
Frédéric Bazille, Young Woman with Peonies, 1870, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.6

Young Woman with Peonies

Frédéric Bazille · 1870 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1983.1.6

Bibliography

1978

  • Daulte, François. "Une grand amitié: Edmond Maître and Frédéric Bazille." L'Oeil 273 (April 1978):36+