Portrait of a boy

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Portrait of a boy.
1852–1855, unsigned.
Oil on canvas. 37 × 30 cm
Ordrupgaard Museum , Charlottenlund

The Portrait of a Boy ( Danish Portræt af en dreng ) by Camille Pissarro is a pre-impressionist oil painting from his early years in the Danish West Indies . It was only reassigned to the artist in 2018 and is therefore not included in Camille Pissarro's 2005 catalog raisonné of Wildenstein . The work was created between 1852 and 1855 before Pissarro moved to Paris , where he became one of the main figures of French Impressionism .

The picture had never been available to the public until 2018 and had never been the subject of an auction. It is important both for the culture of Danish West India and for the artistic development of Pissarro in his early phase.

background

The work belongs to the school of the ending Golden Age in Denmark in the first half of the 19th century. Characteristic for this are the perspective from which the sitter was painted, the subject of the non- bourgeoisie, i.e. an obvious proletarian , as well as the simple, almost sketchy and restrained execution of the work. The fact that the sitter is black makes the painting unique in its cultural-historical context.

Image description

A boy with black skin looks directly at the viewer. The picture shows him as a shoulder piece in front of a light wall. In addition to the battered hat with a wide brim, his pure, orange-colored shirt, in front of which an arm sling is stretched in white gauze, is striking . Obviously he's hurt. Neither his facial expression nor other details of the clothing provide any further information. One suspects him to be a member of the former slave children of the colony.

While Pissarro paid little attention to the clothes and the background and only fleeting brushstrokes, he devoted himself very carefully to the boy's skin and facial expression, which already shows the mastery of the painter at this early creative period. The attitude and the expression suggest a certain calm and melancholy. Small and very fine brushstrokes reveal the appearance of this unidentifiable boy.

reception

Two women at the seaside deep in conversation, St. Thomas . 1856

The subject of port and farm workers as well as market people was no longer new when Pissarro created this work, but the depiction of the population with dark skin color who had been released from slavery a few years earlier was a rarity in Europe. Especially when, like here, it is not about decorative accessories on large-format landscape scenes like Two Women at the Sea Deep in Conversation, St. Thomas , but rather a portrait of an individual. There are very few other examples of the works in Camille Pissarros' catalog raisonné from the first few years .

The provenance of the painting is known: Pissarro himself gave it to the lawyer Hermann Meier Hjernøe (1823–1877), who lives on Saint Thomas , even before he traveled to Paris in 1855. Since then it has always remained in family ownership. Hermann bequeathed it to his son Carl Christian, who was born in the Danish West Indies and who moved with the painting to Denmark in 1877 after the death of his father.

The work was presented to the public on May 15th and 16th 2018 at the Danish Embassy in London . It had previously been examined by the Wildenstein Institute in New York and declared as a newly found oil painting by Pissarro. On May 29, 2018, it was bought at an auction for the Ordrupgaard Museum in Copenhagen with the financing of the Carlsbergfondet . Although it was estimated at 1.1 to 1.2 million Danish kroner , it came under the hammer for exactly one million kroner. It will appear in the new catalog raisonné of Camille Pissarros.

According to the culture authority (Kulturværdiudvalget) this work cannot be sold abroad because it is part of the identity of the Danes and part of the history of Denmark . It represents “a rare cultural and historical contribution to the history of Denmark as a colonial empire ”. Since October 6, 2018, it has been exhibited in the Sorø Art Museum, to which it was awarded because the Ordrupgaard Museum is currently closed for renovation.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Hidtil ukendt værk af Camille Pissarro . Bruun Rasmussen auction house. May 29, 2018 (Danish)
  2. ↑ a b c Atypisk Pissarro til Ordrupgaard . New Carlsberg Foundation , 2018 new acquisition. (Danish)
  3. ↑ a b c David Knight Jr .: Early Pissarro Portrait to be Exhibited, Auctioned in Europe . The St. Thomas Source. U.S. Virgin Islands , May 15, 2018 (English)
  4. ^ A b Ronja Melander: Afgørelse: Sjældent Maleri Skal blive i Danmark . Jyllands-Posten, September 12, 2018
  5. ↑ "Nyt" guldalderportræt vises på Soro Kunstmuseum . Dit Sorø, September 20, 2018