Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2012.

The Bath

Artist Charles Gleyre (Swiss, 1806-1874)

CultureSwiss

Date1868

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions35 1/2 x 25 in. (90.2 x 63.5 cm)
Overall, Frame: 49 x 38 x 5 1/2 in. (124.5 x 96.5 x 14 cm)

InscribedSigned and dated lower right: C. GLEYRE 1868.

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.2069

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting depicting an atrium in a Roman household. Two women (possibly sisters) stand at a bath, one of them holding a child. At the right, a nude woman watches as the mother, clothed on the left, bathes her infant.

Label TextCharles Gleyre Swiss, active France, 1806–1874 The Bath, 1868 Oil on canvas The precise draftsmanship and radiant forms of paintings like The Bath distinguished Charles Gleyre as a leading academic master. So too did his choice of subjects. Gleyre used this imaginary scene of an ancient Roman family bathing at an alabaster font to demonstrate his mastery of the classical nude. The girl at right—her supple skin as luminous as polished marble—was based on an ancient Roman sculptural relief then on view in Paris. While he devoted earlier canvases to grand historical subjects, here Gleyre’s classical subject exudes a sense of quiet grace. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.2069 ProvenancePurchased from the artist by John Taylor Johnston; Johnston sale, Chickering Hall, New York, Dec.19-22, 1876 (cat. no. 183); Charles Stewart Smith; Smith sale, American Art Association, New York, Jan. 4, 1935 (cat. no. 38); John H. McKay, New York; McKay sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, March 12, 1969 (cat. no. 110); Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, 1971.Exhibition History"Art Pompier: Anti-Impressionism," Emily Lowe Gallery, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, Oct. 22 - Dec. 15, 1974. (Exhib. cat. no. 52). "The Second Empire 1852-1870," Philadelphia Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Grand Palais, Paris, Oct. 1, 1978 - July 2, 1979. (Exhib. cat. no. VI-62). "Charles Gleyre 1806-1874," Grey Art Gallery, New York, and University of Maryland Art Gallery, College Park, Feb. 6 - May 2, 1980. (Exhib. cat. 54). "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. 40). "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). "Monet and Bazille: An Early Impressionist Collaboration," The High Museum of Art, February 27 - May 16, 1999. (Exhib. cat. p. 35). "Charles Gleyre: Genius of the Invention," Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, Switzerland, October 7, 2006 - January 7, 2007. "Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum," North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, April 9, 2013 - February 2, 2014. Musee D'Orsay, "Charles Gleyre, 1806-1874, Le Romantique Repent" May 9-September 11, 2016. "Keepers of the Flame: Parrish, Wyeth, Rockwell and the Narrative Tradition," Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA, June 9 - October 28, 2018.Published ReferencesEric 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. 40. Jefferson C. Harrison. _French Paintings from the Chrysler Museum_. The Chrysler Museum. 1986. No. 21. Annette Blaugrund, Albert Boime, D. Dodge Thompson, H. Barbara Weinberg, and Richard Guy Wilson. _Paris 1889: American Artists at the Universal Exposition_. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, in association with Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. 1989: 246-248. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. The Chrysler Museum. 1991: 125, # 100. Gerald M. Ackerman. _American Orientalists. ACR Edition_. Paris. 1994:16-18. Fronia E. Wissman, _Bouguereau_ (San Francisco: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1996), 97, fig. 11. Françoise de Bonneville. _Le Livre du Bain_. Flammarion, Paris, 1997, 6. Gerald M. Ackerman, "New Books on Two Important Teachers at the French Academy & Some thoughts about Art Historians," _The Classical Realism Journal_. Spring 1999: 56-58, color ill. 58. David A. Brenneman, ed. _Monet and Bazille: A Collaboration_. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, and the High Museum of Art, 1999, 7, 105 and color ill. p. 35. Maureen C. O'Brien and Mary Bergstein, General Editors. _Image and Enterprise: The Photographs of Adolphe Braun_. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, and Thames & Hudson Ltd, London. 2000: ill. 131. Catherine Lepdor, _Charles Gleyre: Genius of the Invention_, exh.cat., Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, Switzerland, October 7, 2006 - January 7, 2007, 228 - 233. Eric M. Zafran, "Norfolk's Salon Masterworks Shine Again," _Fine Art Connoisseur_, November-December 2014, 49. Aimée Brown Price, et. al., _Charles Gleyre (1806-1874): Le romantique repenti_ (Paris: Musée d'Orsay with Éditions Hazan, 2016) 193, fig. 110.