Paintings : 8
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PaintingThe light infantrymen of Vincennes or This is what is what they call “vagrancy”
The Belgian painter Alfred Stevens was born in Brussels in 1823 and moved to Paris in the 1840s. His early works, such as portraits of soldiers or social scenes, were part of a pictorial trend that emerged in both France and Belgium at that time, that of social-realism. It is in this context that he presented […]
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PaintingGeneral view of the theatres of the Boulevard du Temple before the creation of the Boulevard du Prince Eugène
This painting by Martial Potémont (1828-1883) represents the vision of the Boulevard du Temple at the beginning of 1862, just before the start of demolition work to make way for the creation of the Boulevard du Prince Eugene, named after Napoleon III’s uncle, Eugene de Beauharnais. And it was an important moment in the urban […]
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Painting / Directory / 1st EmpireLA FONTAINE ET LA PLACE DU CHÂTELET EN 1810
In 1810, Parisians and tourists to the French capital had the privilege of visiting this beautiful square, at whose centre stood the majestic Fontaine du Palmier commemorating the victories of Napoleon’s Grande Armée. Until 1802, the scene had been dominated by the Grand Châtelet, a 9th century fortress reconstructed in stone and extended in the […]
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PaintingLes chênes d’Apremont
After years of enduring the arbitrary whims of the July Monarchy Salon juries, the “eternally rejected” Théodore Rousseau achieved fame during the Second Republic. It was the Second Empire however that would grant him the official recognition he so craved. He was made knight of the Légion d’honneur in 1852 and officer in 1867, and […]
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PaintingThe Turkish Bath
The frequent appearance of female bathers and odalisques in Ingres’ paintings stemmed from the artist’s fascination with the female nude and his search for the classical ideal. This quest – one might even say obsession – reached its climax towards the end of his career with The Turkish Bath, a painting of complex provenance. It […]
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PaintingWomen in the Garden
Although the Second Empire period was a financially difficult time for Monet, it nevertheless failed to shake his belief in a new, modern style of painting entirely disassociated from the masters of the past. Described by Bazille as “the best of all of us”, Monet would go on to lay the foundations of impressionism. Rebellious, radical […]
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PaintingThe Angelus
The peasantry class can often be found at the heart of Jean-François Millet’s artistic work. Often featuring peasants and a social message, such as in Les Glaneuses [The Gleaners] in which they evoke the right, granted to the very poorest in society, to gather up the wheat ears after the harvest, Millet’s paintings explore the reality […]
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PaintingCostume Ball at the Tuileries Palace
1867. More than 7 million visitors came to see the Exposition universelle, and for the occasion Paris glittered like a diamond tiara. The sovereigns and elite of the whole world flocked to the festivities organised by the imperial regime. The celebrations were incessant. The journalist Henri Rochefort noted with irony that: «Paris, which people have […]