Femme à la rose (Woman and Rose) Eugène Grasset was something of a paradox. Though considered in his day as the artist who best captured the essence of womanhood, he expressed gross misogyny in his private diaries: “men and women differ not…
Joueuses d’osselets (Women playing knucklebones) After Alice Bailly moved to Paris in 1906, she began to move in Fauvist circles. At the start of the 1910s, her style changed dramatically as she encountered the Cubists in Montparnasse. It is fair…
Le Bosphore (The Bosphorus) Émile David studied with Barthélémy Menn in Geneva and Charles Gleyre in Paris before heading for Italy in 1848. He spent much of his time in Rome with his fellow artists, Étienne Duval and Auguste…
Esquisse pour “La séparation des apôtres” (Sketch for the Separation of the Apostles) Charles Gleyre achieved instant success at the 1843 Paris Salon with Le Soir (Evening), an Orientalist reverie that won a Second Class medal and was acquired by the French state. Two years later, on a…
Portrait d’enfant. Valentin en train de peindre, grandeur nature (Portrait of a Child. Valentin painting, life size) As a young man, Auguste Baud was influenced by his friendship with the artistically and intellectually inclined Bovy family of Geneva, who introduced him to the socialist ideals of Charles Fourier. His life grew even…
Chrétien et Plein d’Espoir capturés par le géant Désespoir (Christian and Hopeful captured by the giant Despair) Seeing Fra Angelico’s frescos on a trip to Italy in 1877 confirmed Eugène Burnand’s intention to turn to religious subjects: from the latter half of the 1890s on, he worked on nothing else. In addition…
Les Petites Brodeuses (The Little Embroideresses) This painting is the perfect example of how Swiss painters based abroad adapted their output to local markets. Albert Anker trained at the Vaud-born master Charles Gleyre’s Paris studio in the early 1850s. By the…
La reine Berthe et les fileuses (Queen Bertha and the Spinners) A woman is busy teaching four girls hand-spinning. The activity lets Albert Anker form a diagonal across the centre of the composition, from the basket full of carded wool to the tip of the spinning…
Brigand de la campagne romaine (Brigand in the Roman Campagna) Léopold Robert initially trained as an engraver. In 1812, he joined the studio of Jacques-Louis David, who encouraged him to turn to painting. Robert moved to Rome in 1818 and began producing genre scenes, imbuing…
Le Retour de la montagne (Return from the Mountain) The Bernese Oberland developed a busy tourist trade as early as the latter half of the eighteenth century. Local artists would churn out engravings and paintings of the most picturesque views showcasing a chocolate-box Switzerland…