Jean-Baptiste Greuze (French, 1725–1805) A woman encourages a hesitant young girl to present a purse of money to a bedridden couple, who lean forward to express their gratitude. While the mother urges her child to hand the purse to the old man, a
nun and two young men wait their turn to extend charity. Jean-Baptiste Greuze portrayed the mother and daughter in fine clothing to emphasize the disparity between their lives and that of the impoverished couple, whose only valuable possession, a sword, is prominently displayed behind them. Greuze was famous for moralizing images like this one, which were meant to illustrate the importance of good deeds and childhood instruction in a domestic setting. In
The Charitable Woman, a complex scene that explores a wide range of human expression, he used spontaneous applications of wash to intensify the sense of drama.
Greuze produced
The Charitable Woman as a compositional study for a painting of the same name
,now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon. Prior to making this drawing, he made numerous studies of individual figures, such as the
Study of the Head of an Old Woman,who is one of the principal characters in this scene. These carefully rendered drawings provide evidence of Greuze's working methods and testify to his careful preparation.
High Quality Wood Framed Print using museum quality paper and archival inks with a white border or with cut mat for a contemporary look. Comes with Acrylite glazing and hanging hardware. These are Made in USA or Europe depending upon your location.
Stretched Canvas is stretched over 1.25" thick pine bars and printed on heavy cotton poly matte finish canvas. Comes with mounting brackets. These are Made in USA or Europe depending upon your location.
Giclee Prints are printed on 260gsm satin finish using the finest archival inks. Each print carries a white border around the perimeter. The listed size refers to the overall paper dimensions. The image is printed proportionally within this paper size and includes a small white border. These are Made in USA or Europe depending upon your location.
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Artwork in this collection is from The J. Paul Getty Museum. Reproduction rights are reserved by the copyright owner and used under license by Archivea.
