LE CHARETTE DU DIEU [Trans: "THE LITTLE CHARIOT OF GOD"]

Burnand, Eugene

Verlag: Original by artist, France likely - perhaps near Versailles or Provence, 1881

Beschreibung

Dated Ink on Paper Drawing: "9/7/1881." Titled by the artist below the image: "Le Charette du Dieu" and Signed "E. Burnand" [Eugène Burnand]. The piece overall measures: 12.75" H x 15.75" W; image: 6.25" H x 9".25 W; matted in a gilt-textured wooden frame and under glass. Weight: 2 lbs. Eugène Burnand's evocative yet poignant drawing depicts a downcast and seemingly poor older woman wearing bonnet and cloak driving a correspondingly downbeat shaggy donkey that's over-burdoned by having to haul her large-wheeled loaded cart. To accentuate and contrast the scenes' pathos, artist Burnand has lightly sketched in the background outlines of a fancy city equipage, large buildings, and lampposts. He has ironically captioned his sketch: "Le Charette du Dieu" [the Cart or Small Chariot of God] suggestively echoing the famous biblical phrase "Chariots of the Gods" [plural] based on Isaiah 66:15: ".the Lord will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury." Here, the title seems a call for social justice urgently needed to rectify this poor old woman's plight. Eugène Burnand, Swiss, (born 30 August 1850 - Moudon, Vaud, Switzerland - died 4 February 1921 - Paris, France). Burnand was a highly skilled naturalistic artist with many skills: sketching, engraving, painting in watercolours and oils. Honored in Switzerland and France--where he resided for most of his creative life--Burnand is highly regarded for the pastoral and alpine pictures in Switzerland and France that made his name. Late in life, he also created large and very finely-detailed historic and religious pictures, and he executed many illustrations for classic books. [We have prepared the mini-biography that follows by abridging closely from doug@eugene-burnand.com (a website created by Doug Jenkinson). The site's comprehensive studies are based upon Jenkinson's extensive researches; the artist's works in the MuséeEugèneBurnand in Moudon; and more recently upon the comprehensive book: Eugène Burnand, peintre naturaliste by Philippe Kaenel (Professor of Art History at Lausanne University) ISBN:88-7439-104-8. We have also used Wikipedia.] As a youth, Eugene's father, a forestry inspector from a French-speaking region of France, encouraged him to study architecture in Zurich (1867-71). Thereafter, Eugene pursued art studies in Geneva under Bathélemy Menn; then moved to Paris and advanced studies under Jean-Leon Gér me. Versatile Éugene sold illustrations to publishers while also creating dynamic canvases such as "La Pompe à Feu," (1879). After painting many subjects in Provence, the artist moved to Versailles and married Julia Girardet, daughter of an engraver with whom he studied. The young married couple also had two boys--the first of whom sadly died in 1879; though a second son was born in 1880. In mid-1881, when Eugène created this triste study--ironically entitled "The Little Chariot of God"--of a poor downcast woman driving a drooping and dilapidated donkey hauling her heavily laden two-wheeled cart, the artist's family equilibrium recently had been severely whipsawed by the death of one son and the birth of another. The artist's stressful domestic situation in Versailles--and fancy carriages and lampposts hinted at in the background--suggest that the setting for this e poingnant subject was nearby--perhaps in Paris. Still needing to make a living, though, Eugene in 1880 had enthusiastically prepared a series of illustrations for a new edition of the then famous epic "Mireille" by the Provençal poet Frédéric Mistral. Burnand became a lifelong friend of the poet; even naming a daughter after the poem's heroine. So just possibly, we have here a scene from southern France. In 1883, Burnand made a series of watercolors for an edition of Alphonse Daudet's novels. In 1884, he painted the powerful and memorable "Bull in the Alps" (1884) in Switzerland. Such studies enhanced Burnand's reputation as a master of animal painting and rural life. The fo. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 9462

Bibliografische Details

Titel: LE CHARETTE DU DIEU [Trans: "THE LITTLE ...

Verlag: Original by artist, France likely - perhaps near Versailles or Provence

Erscheinungsdatum: 1881

Einband: Framed, matted, & glazed

Illustrator: Eugene Burnand

Zustand: Very Good

Signiert: Signatur des Verfassers

Auflage: Ink on Paper Sketch.