Beskrivning: Se även beskrivning i den engelska versionen

Catalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 61:

Technical notes: The oak panel (0.3 cm thick) consists
of a single board with a horizontal grain. It has been
thinned but has partly preserved original bevelling. The
panel has been cradled. It was prepared with a white
chalk ground applied evenly from edge to edge and
which completely covers the support. The ground, which
was probably applied vertically, goes beyond the edges on
all sides, somewhat more on the left and right sides. A
thin, semi-transparent brownish-yellow layer of imprimatura
covers the white chalk ground. There is no
underdrawing. There are pentimenti in the woman’s arm
on the left. The paint layer is thin, semi-transparent in
application with a few slight impasto areas. Thin ridges
of paint have formed along the contours of the
figures. Small retouches in the foreground and background
are visible in UV light. The painting underwent
conservation treatment in 1930.

Provenance: Bequeathed by Christina Nilsson in 1930.

Bibliography: NM Cat. 1958, pp. 56–57; NM Cat.
1990, p. 107.

This panel by Jean-Louis Demarne, whose artistic
career was spent in France, was donated to the
Nationalmuseum by the singer Christina Nilsson in
1930 along with a number of other works, one of them
also by Demarne (see no. 62). This genre painting by
Demarne depicts a simply furnished interior in which
a man is sitting with a boy on his lap. The boy, portrayed
in a playful posture, seems to be singing. A seated
woman in a grey gown, brown scarf and apron with
a white cloth on her head is reclining against the smiling
man’s shoulder. To her left there is a cradle in
which a small child is lying asleep. A dog is lying at the
man’s left foot. The motif expresses the happiness and
unity of the members of the family and this is also
emphasised by the composition of the work and the
poses, gestures and facial expressions of the figures.
The small format also enhances the expression of
closeness and intimacy. The motif alludes to an earlier,
mainly Dutch, tradition of genre painting. The way in
which the figures, like the interior, are rendered is
characteristic of this artist. A painting that is reminiscent
of the work in the Nationalmuseum both in terms
of several specific details and the way in which the figures
are rendered belongs to the Musée des Beaux Arts
in Compiègne in France.1
KS

1 The painting in Compiègne is entitled The Cherry Seller, painted in oil on
canvas and can be seen in the Musée Municipal Antoine Vivenel, Compiègne,
France. [End]

Foto: Erik Cornelius / Nationalmuseum 2007

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