Description
The macabre subject matter of A Funeral is typical of Jean-Paul Laurens, whose interest in depicting cadavers and coffins earned him the nickname "the painter of the dead." Laurens was also attracted to subjects from church history, and, here, the crosier leaning against the door behind the coffin indicates the deceased was a bishop. Highly finished drawings like this one are rare in Laurens's production. His technique of covering the surface with a variety of media and scratching away for highlights is quite similar to the one used by another artist in the exhibition-Alexandre Bida, in his Café at Constantinople [cat. no. 34]. Laurens utilized the technique effectively in this gloomy scene, where the glowing candle flame casts long shadows and feebly illuminates the columns receding into darkness on the left.
Provenance
[Galerie de la Scala, Paris, 1979 (according to Shepherd Gallery records)]; [Shepherd Gallery, New York]; purchased in 1979; estate of Muriel Butkin
Accession Number
2008.368
Medium
charcoal and brush and black and brown ink, with stumping and scratching away
Dimensions
Sheet: 40.1 x 29 cm (15 13/16 x 11 7/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Bequest of Muriel Butkin
Tags
Drawing Impressionist & Modern (1851–1900) Ink Charcoal French
Background & Context
Background Story
Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921) was a French painter known for the dramatic, anti-clerical historical subjects that make him one of the most important painters of the French academic historical tradition. A Funeral from the mid-1870s to early 1880s depicts a funeral scene in the dramatic, narrative manner that distinguishes Laurens's best historical paintings from the more decorative work of his contemporaries. The mid-1870s to early 1880s date places this in Laurens's most productive period, when he was producing the dramatic, anti-clerical historical paintings that are his most accomplished works.
Cultural Impact
A Funeral is important in the history of French historical painting because it demonstrates the dramatic, anti-clerical manner that Laurens brought to historical subjects as one of the most important painters of the French academic historical tradition. Laurens's dramatic, anti-clerical historical paintings—combining narrative drama with anti-clerical content—represent an important tradition in French historical painting that used the past to comment on the present, and A Funeral shows this tradition at its most dramatic.
Why It Matters
A Funeral is Laurens's dramatic history painting: a funeral scene rendered in the narrative manner of one of the most important painters of the French academic historical tradition. The mid-1870s to early 1880s painting shows the dramatic, anti-clerical historical tradition at work—using historical subjects to comment on the present.
