Provenance

Marc Bazille

French

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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

From a sandy beach, we look across a sun-drenched body of water enclosed by a long, sand-colored, crenelated wall in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted, especially in the beach closer to us and in the water, which is a blend of aquamarine blue and honeydew green. The beach has a few areas of celery-green growth. The shoreline stretches away along the left side of the painting, back to an area with emerald-green trees. A few boats, painted with swipes of black and peanut brown, are pulled up to the beach near the trees. Spanning the right two-thirds of the composition, the wall angles away from us so the closest part of the wall is to our right. There is a round, stout tower at the end of the wall to our left and another near the right edge of the canvas, though the wall continues beyond that tower. There is an arched doorway about halfway long the length of the wall. The water is smoothly painted with only a few ripples where the tower to our right reflects in the surface. In the narrow space between the beach to our left and the wall to our right, a few buildings, a windmill, and more trees line the horizon in the distance. The top half of the painting is given over to a topaz-blue sky, with only a few puffy white clouds near the horizon.
Frédéric Bazille, The Western Ramparts at Aigues-Mortes, 1867, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.1

The Western Ramparts at Aigues-Mortes

Frédéric Bazille · 1867 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.1