4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2018.

Pierrot the Politician

Artist Thomas Couture (French, 1815-1879)

CultureFrench

Date1857

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions44 1/2 x 57 1/2 in. (113 x 146.1 cm)
Overall, Frame: 51 x 64 x 3 in. (129.5 x 162.6 x 7.6 cm)

InscribedSigned with initials and dated 1857.

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., dedicated by the Trustees to Thomas G. Johnson, Jr. in gratitude for his long and distinguished service to the Chrysler, June 2005

Object number71.2064

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 216

DescriptionThis oil on canvas painting depicts two men in costumes on their way to a masked ball (their street clothes are behind the harlequin), discussing politics in the latest _Le Moniteur Universel_. Two figures are seated, facing each other as if in conversation in a neutrally colored room. The floor is covered in hexagon shaped tiles. One figure is wearing the costume of the harlequin, a geometric pattern in brightly colored triangles. His back is to the viewer. The other figure has short hair and is in the white costume of a Pierrot; his profile is to the viewer, lit cigar in right hand and ring on the ring finger of his left hand. There are three glass bottles with various liquids on the right side of the canvas. A black hat and coat are folded over a chair. On the floor beneath the harlequin are a crumpled piece of paper and a broken bit of a pipe.

Label TextThomas Couture French, 1815–1879 Pierrot the Politician, 1857 Oil on canvas The theatrical performances of the Commedia dell’Arte focused on the antics of a set of comic characters, including the scheming servant Harlequin and the lovesick clown Pierrot. Thomas Couture admired the Commedia’s satiric punch, and in his paintings he used its characters to poke fun at contemporary French life. Here, two Parisian businessmen dressed as Pierrot (in white) and Harlequin have abandoned a masked ball to pore over the latest issue of Le Moniteur Universel, the French government’s official newspaper. Couture despised the middle-class obsession with “business, always business,” and here he takes a jab at those who cannot put aside their concerns with politics and money. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.2064 ProvenanceCollection V.J., Paris, 1857; William T. Blodgett; Blodgett sale, Chickering Hall, New York, April 27, 1876 (cat. no. 64); Darius C. Mills; Mrs. Ogden L. Mills; Mills sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, Jan. 23, 1952 (cat. no. 49); John Levy, New York; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, 1971. Exhibition History"French Paintings 1789-1929 from the collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Dayton Art Institute, March 25 - May 22, 1960. (Exhib. cat. no. 23). "Art Pompier: Anti-Impressionism," Emily Lowe Gallery, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, Oct. 22 - Dec. 15, 1974. (Exhib. cat. no. 32). "Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," for the benefit of The Chrysler Museum Art Reference Library, Wildenstein & Co., New York, N. Y., April 13 - May 13, 1978. (Exhib. cat. no. 17). "French Salon Paintings from Southern Collections," High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Chrysler Museum, Norfolk; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; and John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Jan. 21 - Oct. 23, 1983. (Exhib. cat. no. 21). "French Paintings from The Chrysler Museum," North Carolina Museum of Art, May 31 - Sept. 14, 1986; Birmingham Museum of Art, Nov. 6, 1986 - Jan. 18, 1987. (Exhib. cat. no. 29). "Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," October 25, 1996 - February 16, 1997. Published ReferencesPriscilla C. Colt and Charles H. Elam. _French Paintings 1789-1929 from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio. 1960. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya. _Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum. 1978. Albert Boime. _Thomas Couture and the Eclectic Vision_. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1980. pp. 309-312. Eric M. Zafran, with an introductory essay by Gerald M. Ackerman. _French Salon Paintings from Southern Collections_. Atlanta, GA: The High Museum of Art. 1982. No. 21. Jefferson C. Harrison. _French Paintings from the Chrysler Museum_. The Chrysler Museum. 1986. No. 29. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. The Chrysler Museum. 1991. Page 104, plate 82. Bénédicte Ottinger, "Thomas Couture et l'Amérique," _48/14 La revue du Musée d'Orsay_ Vol. 26. (Spring 2008):p. 29. Scott Allan, Emily A. Beeny, Gloria Groom (editors), _Manet and Modern Beauty_, (J. Paul Getty Museum: Los Angeles, 2019), fig. 49, p. 90.