In The Grandmother, Léon Lhermitte brought together the youth and the old age of a country person in a single scene. The old woman is sitting on a church pew staring dejectedly into space, a book of prayers open on her lap. She has been marked by life, as the deep wrinkles in her face show. The approaching end of her life contrasts with the youth of the kneeling girl on whose rosy cheeks life has not yet left its mark. Lhermitte’s approach shows him to have been an adept follower of Naturalism, which was popular at the time. The scene is rendered in the finest detail and the painter observes it without displaying any empathy with his subject. He found the theme in a scene in the village church at Mont-Saint-Père in Picardy.
| Artist |
Léon Augustin Lhermitte
RKD
VIAF
Wikidata
|
|---|---|
| Title | The Grandmother |
| Date | ca. 1879 - 1880 |
| Period | 19th century |
| Signatures, inscriptions, and markings | signatures (names) bottom left: L. Lhermitte |
| Collection | paintings AAT |
| Object type | oil paintings (visual works) AAT |
| Inventory number | 1880-E |
| Acquisition credit |
purchase
salon Ghent 1880 |
| Current whereabouts | Work currently not on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1880-E |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/211/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300015637
portraits
AAT
300124520 interior views AAT 300189808 figures (representations) AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
11D
Christ
Iconclass
11D12 the cross ~ symbols of Christ Iconclass 11D3 Christ as adult Iconclass 11D334 adult Christ together with apostles, evangelists, saints, etc. Iconclass 11Q2 (private) prayer; 'Oratione', 'Preghiere', 'Preghiere a Dio' (Ripa) Iconclass 11Q21 one person praying Iconclass 11Q713 interior of church Iconclass 11V87 praying for the living and the dead ~ one of the (seven) spiritual Acts of Mercy Iconclass 31A72 female sex; woman Iconclass 31AA233 kneeling figure - AA - female human figure Iconclass 31AA235 sitting figure - AA - female human figure Iconclass 31D112 child Iconclass 31D11222 girl (child between toddler and youth) Iconclass 31D130 Maidenhood Iconclass 31D15 adult woman Iconclass 31D17 old woman Iconclass 41A723 bench Iconclass 41D221(HEADSCARF) head-gear (HEADSCARF) Iconclass 42B751 grandparent(s) with grandchild(ren) (family group) Iconclass 42G221 grandparents (second degree family relationships) Iconclass 42G223 grandchildren (second degree family relationships) Iconclass 48C161 column, pillar ~ architecture Iconclass 73 New Testament Iconclass 73C public life of Christ: from his baptism until the Passion Iconclass |
| School / Style | naturalism (artistic form of expression) AAT |
| Catalogus van het Museum van Schoone Kunsten Gent : II: Moderne Meesters / Georges Chabot, Fritz Van Loo. - Gent : Ad. Hoste, 1932 (p. 95) |
| Léon Lhermitte (1844-1925) (exhibition Oshkosh, Paine Art Center & Arboretum, 21.09.1974 - 10.11.1974) / Mary Michele Hamel. - Oshkosh-Wisconsin : [s.n.] : 1974 (p. 17) |
| Léon Augustin Lhermitte (1844-1925) : Catalogue raisonné / Monique Le Pelley Fonteny, Jacques Thuillier. - Paris : Editions Cercle d'Art, 1991 (p. 95, nr. 26 (ill.)) |
| Léon Lhermitte et La Paye des moissonneurs (Exposition Paris, Musée d'Orsay, 22.10.1991 - 12.01.1992) / Monique Le Pelley Fonteny. - Paris : Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1991 (p. 9) |
| De vrienden van Scribe : De Europese smaak van een Gents mecenas (tentoonstelling Gent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 12 december 1998 - 14 maart 1999) / Monique Tahon-Vanroose, Robert Hoozee. - Gent : Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon, 1998 ; Antwerpen : Pandora, 1998 (p. 74 (ill.), 75, 193 (ill.)) |
| 200 jaar verzamelen : Collectieboek Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent / Arnout Balis, Robert Hoozee, Maximiliaan P.J. Martens, Paul Van Haute. - Gent : Ludion, 2000 (p. 132, 133 (ill. 77), 270) |
| Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : Catalogus schilderkunst ; Deel I: 14de - 18de eeuw ; Deel II: 19de - 20ste eeuw / Robert Hoozee, Johan De Smet, Bruno Fornari, Ruth Monteyne. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2007 (dl. II, p. 218-219 (ill.)) |
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