Chester Dale Collection .:. French paintings

Walker, John [Intr.],
French paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. 6th ed. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1953. 93 Seiten mit Abbildungen. Kartoniert. 4to. 260 g

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* ausser dem Frontispiz sind alle Abbildungen schwarzweiss.
Bestell-Nr.157398

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Chester Dale Collection | Frankreich | Malerei | Kunstsammlung | Sammlungskatalog | Chester Dale

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INTRODUCTION
THE paintings from the Chester Dale Collection included in this catalogue show in a remarkably complete manner the range and brilliance of art in France from the end of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, from the birth of David to the death of Cezanne. The collection therefore covers the great period of French painting, an age when the leadership of European art was established firmly and beyond challenge in one city, Paris.
It was in the eighteenth century that France assumed that hegemony that it has held ever since in European art. The light and airy spirit of the age was perfectly expressed in the life of the French court and beautifully embodied in the work of French painters. Boucher's paintings illustrate brilliantly the taste of this refined and witty society. His flowing and graceful style is as accomplished in its way as Mozart's music. His art mirrors the debonaire and frivolous charm of the ancien regime, its exquisite feeling for design, its constant search for pleasure, and its unceasing delight in feminine beauty.
The eighteenth century, however, had a more serious side. The number of published letters, memoirs, and confessions shows the selfconsciousness of the time. Even in the portraits of a fashionable painter like Drouais one can see how the formality of court painting has yielded to a sensitive interest in the psychology of the sitter, and in the work of a realist like Chardin the most subtle nuances of character are revealed, not only in his portraits, but also in his little comedies of everyday life. Diderot, the philosopher and editor of the celebrated Encyclopedia, was also the leading […]

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