The Maidservant
Artist
Camille Pissarro
(French, 1830 - 1903)
CultureFrench
Date1875
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions36 1/2 x 28 3/4 in. (92.7 x 73 cm)
Overall, Frame: 45 1/2 x 37 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. (115.6 x 95.9 x 11.4 cm)
Overall, Frame: 45 1/2 x 37 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. (115.6 x 95.9 x 11.4 cm)
InscribedInitialed lower right: C.P.
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.530
Collections
On View
Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 102
Label TextCamille Pissarro French, 1830–1903 The Maidservant, 1875 Oil on canvas Young women and girls who left farms in search of a better lfie often found work in cities like Paris as domestic servants, shop workers, and factory laborers. This girl seems uncomfortable as she brings a drink out to the beautiful garden of a large house in Paris in the middle of the day. She is serving absinthe, an anise-flavored liquor then all the face in France. Highly intoxicating and thought to be hallucinatory, it was closely associated with debauchery and the ills of urban life. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.530 ProvenanceThe artist, until 1903; Paulémile Pissarro, 1930; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, 1971. Exhibition History"Exposition Camille Pissarro," Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, Feb. - March 1930. (Exhib. cat. no. 23). "Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown Inaugural Exhibition," Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1958. (Exhib. cat. no. 45). "French Paintings 1789-1929 from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Dayton Art Institute, March 25 - May 22, 1960. (Exhib. cat. no. 55). "The Controversial Century 1850-1950," Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Massachusetts, and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1962. "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. 20). "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. 33). "Camille Pissarro and Impressionism," Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany, December 11, 1999 - May 1, 2000. "Inspiring Impressionism," High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, October 16, 2007 - January 13, 2008; Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, February 23 - May 25, 2008; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, June 19 - September 21, 2008. "Pissaro's People," The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, June 12 - October 2, 2011; Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco: California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA, October 22, 2011 - February 26, 2012. "Upstairs/Downstairs: Masterpieces from the Chrylser Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 10 - December 30, 2012. "Pissarro," Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain, June 4 - September 15, 2013; Fundación "la Caixa", Barcelona, Spain, October 15 - January 26, 2014. "The Agrarian Ideal: Monet, van Gogh, Homer," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 7, 2016 - January 8, 2017.Published ReferencesBertina S. Manning. _Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown Inaugural Exhibition_. Provincetown, Massachusetts: Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown. 07/1958. No. 45. Priscilla C. Colt and Charles H. Elam. _French Paintings 1789-1929 from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio. 1960. No.55. Foreword by Charles F. Comfort, LL.D., and an introduction by William S.A. Dale, Ph.D. _The Controversial Century: 1850-1950_. Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Massachusetts. 1962. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya. _Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum. 1978. No. 20. Jefferson C. Harrison. _French Paintings from the Chrysler Museum_. The Chrysler Museum. 1986. No. 33. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. The Chrysler Museum. 1991. Plate 96, 121. Christoph Becker. _Camille Pissarro_. Hatje Cantz Verlag. 1999: page 47, Catalog 7. Joachim Pissarro and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts,_Pissarro: Critical Catalogue of Paintings_, Volume II, (Paris: Wildenstein Institute Publications, 2005), 307. _Inspiring Impressionism, A Book of Postcards_ (Petaluma, CA,: Pomegranate Communications, Inc. 2007) ISBN: 978-0-7649-4240-2 Xavier Bray, et. al., _Inspiring Impressionism: The Impressionists and the Art of the Past_, exh. cat., Denver Art Museum, Colorado, 2007, 50 & 51, illus.72 ISBN: 978-0-914738-57-2
