1864
Huile sur toile
38 x 45 cm - 15 x 17 3/4 in.
Collection particulière
Dernière mise à jour : 2022-04-03 06:23:00
Référence : MSb-11
Famille de l’artiste - Frédéric Bazille, neveu de l’artiste - Collection particulière, Montpellier.
Montpellier, musée Fabre, Exposition internationale, 1927, Rétrospective Bazille, n° 36 - Montpellier, musée Fabre, 1941, n° 10 - Paris, galerie Wildenstein, 1950, n° 13 - Montpellier, musée Fabre, 1959, n° 7 - Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1978, n° 10, repr. p. 44 - Montpellier, musée Fabre, 1984, repr. p. 2 [n.n.] - Montpellier, New York, 1992-1993, n° 51, repr. p. 146 - Montpellier, Paris, Washington, 2016-2017, cat. 11, repr. p. 223 [Les références sont du catalogue en français].
Poulain, Bazille et ses amis, 1932, n° 4, p. 211 - Sarraute, Catalogue de l'œuvre de Frédéric Bazille, 1948, n° 46, p. 107 - Sarraute, Cat. exp. galerie Wildenstein, 1950, n° 13 - Daulte, Bazille et son temps, 1952, n° 5, p. 168 [Thèse sous la direction de Gaston Poulain] - Champa, Studies in Early Impressionism, 1973, p. 85, fig. 117 - Marandel, Cat. exp. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1978, n° 10, p. 45, repr. p. 44 - Dejean, Le roman d'un collectionneur : Alfred Bruyas, 1984, p. 2 - Daulte, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, 1992, n° 5, pp. 154-155 [Réédition de 1952 avec photos en couleur] - Jourdan, Cat. exp. Montpellier, New York, 1992-1993, n° 51, repr. p. 146 - Bonafoux, Les plaisirs et les jours, 1994, p. 28 - Schulman, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue raisonné, 1995, n° 11, repr. p. 118 - Hilaire, Jones, Perrin, Cat. exp. Montpellier, Paris, Washington, 2016-2017, cat. 11, repr. p. 223 [Les références sont du catalogue en français] - Schulman, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue raisonné numérique, 2022, n° 11.
Paintings of animals are infrequent in Bazille's work. Four others were made, which are, in chronological order: the Two Herrings, The Scoter, the Still Life with Fish and the Still Life with Heron. In the drawings, on the other hand, animals are more numerous. They are sometimes even the central element. All these drawings are quickly sketched on album pages taken at random [Albums from the Louvre Museum]. Nevertheless, it is necessary to separate Rita the Dog Asleep, an anecdotal theme, from other animal subjects, simple still lives.
Curled up in a ball, the dog gives an impression of calm and gentleness. Bazille chose warm colors, browns, ochres, and a few dashes of red on the carpet. This palette is reflected in the Reclining Nude, particularly in the silk drapery covering the woman. As for the background, Bazille opted for a range of browns, slightly lighter than those of the bitch, a chromatic range that avoids the break in tones and allows for the synthesis of colors here. This range of colors, for the moment limited, will make Jean Lapeyre say that we detect here "the influence of Delacroix" [Lapeyre, Plaisir de France, January 1970] and to others, like Champa, that we find Manet in it. The painting is, however, close to Monet, whose friendship and pictorial influence Bazille shares.
Rita Asleep, however - is apparently found in the Study for The Family Gathering but is not in the final The Family Gathering; she is also the subject of the drawing in the Study of Dog.
By the choice of subject, by that of colors, Bazille shows a certain talent as an animal painter.
