

1399
2
Sweet Melancholy
1756
Oil on canvas, 68 x 55 cm (26 3/4 x 21 5/8 inches)
Signed lower right: "jos. m. vien / 1756"
Cleveland Museum of Art
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1996.1
Description:
The chair, brazier, table, and the setting all show Vien's interest in bringing archaeological accuracy to a new level of precision. Yet his delicate handling and graceful palette derive squarely from 18th-century French painting. The gesture of the melancholic figure, with her head on her hand, has roots going back to the Renaissance. Nonetheless, the painting has a wistful rather than tragic tone. Indeed, images of women in interiors, contemplating a letter with longing or sadness, derive from earlier Dutch paintings of daily life, here transformed into an ancient context.
Signed lower right: "jos. m. vien / 1756"
Cleveland Museum of Art
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1996.1
Description:
The chair, brazier, table, and the setting all show Vien's interest in bringing archaeological accuracy to a new level of precision. Yet his delicate handling and graceful palette derive squarely from 18th-century French painting. The gesture of the melancholic figure, with her head on her hand, has roots going back to the Renaissance. Nonetheless, the painting has a wistful rather than tragic tone. Indeed, images of women in interiors, contemplating a letter with longing or sadness, derive from earlier Dutch paintings of daily life, here transformed into an ancient context.
- License:
- Courtesy of The Cleveland Museum of Art
- For more:
- http://www.clevelandart.org/art/1996.1?collection_search_qu…
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