Le Petit Gilles (The Little Confectioner)
Artist
Thomas Couture
(French, 1815-1879)
Dateca. 1879
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions31 1/2 × 25 1/2 in. (80 × 64.8 cm)
Overall, Frame: 39 1/2 × 33 3/8 × 3 1/4 in. (100.3 × 84.8 × 8.3 cm)
Overall, Frame: 39 1/2 × 33 3/8 × 3 1/4 in. (100.3 × 84.8 × 8.3 cm)
ClassificationsEuropean art
Credit LineGift of the Mowbray Arch Society, 2008
Object number2008.14
Terms
- Boy
- Black
- Brown
- White
- Green
- Red
- Silver
- Portrait
Collections
On View
Not on viewLabel TextThomas Couture French, 1815–1879 Le Petit Gilles (The Little Confectioner), ca. 1879 Oil on canvas Here Thomas Couture’s servant boy wears the white cap and smock of Pierrot, sometimes known as Gilles, an unlucky clown who is a recurring character in European street theater. He carries a tray bearing three glasses, two containing silver spoons and a sugary red liquid. Street performers in Paris often sent boys dressed in costume to sell sweets to passersby and lure them into the audience: hence the painting’s secondary title, The Little Confectioner. Couture often portrayed contemporary Parisians in the costumes of well-known stage characters to satirize modern French life, as seen in his painting Pierrot the Politican in the adjoining gallery. Gift of the Mowbray Arch Society 2008.14
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