Constantin Guys
1805-1892
Women in a Carriage with Men on Horseback
8 x 13 1/2 inches (203 x 343 mm)
Pen and brown ink, gray wash, and watercolor, over pencil, on paper.
1985.27
Bequest of John S. Thacher.
Notes
Two women riding in an open carriage greet a gentleman in a top hat on horseback, possibly in the Bois de Boulogne, a park on the outskirts of Paris where it was fashionable to go for drives.
The Bois de Boulogne was a large and popular park on the west side of Paris, created by Napoleon III. Since its opening in 1857, especially following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, the park attracted carriages, walkers, picnickers, and eventually bicyclists. It played a prominent role in contemporary fiction set in Paris by authors such as Zola, Flaubert, and Proust and was the setting for paintings by a range of Impressionists. Guys, dubbed by Baudelaire as the “painter of modern life,” captured this activity in his many drawings of parties of men and women in carriages in the park.
The Bois de Boulogne was a large and popular park on the west side of Paris, created by Napoleon III. Since its opening in 1857, especially following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, the park attracted carriages, walkers, picnickers, and eventually bicyclists. It played a prominent role in contemporary fiction set in Paris by authors such as Zola, Flaubert, and Proust and was the setting for paintings by a range of Impressionists. Guys, dubbed by Baudelaire as the “painter of modern life,” captured this activity in his many drawings of parties of men and women in carriages in the park.
Inscriptions/Markings
Watermark: none visible through lining.
Associated names
Thacher, John S., former owner.
Bibliography
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Twenty-First Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984-1986. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1989, p. 346-347.
Artist
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Catalog link
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