Bibliography
Béatrice Aubert-Lecoultre, Carinne Bertola et alii, François Bocion. Au seuil de l’impressionnisme, cat. exp. Vevey, Musée Jenisch, Milan, 5 Continents Editions, 2006.
François Daulte et Patrick Schaefer, François Bocion. Du Léman à Venise, cat. exp. Lausanne, Fondation de l’Hermitage, Lausanne, La Bibliothèques des Arts, 1990.
François Bocion was not a regular portrait painter. The few works he did complete in the genre were mostly commissions. The number of group portraits and open-air portraits he worked on can each be counted on the fingers of one hand, making this light-filled composition unique.
The main sitter is Rodolphe Blanchet (1807-1864), shown on the terrace of his chateau at Montagny-sur-Lutry. He was an old acquaintance of Bocion, who aged just seventeen had painted him drinking wine with the councillor of state Henri Druey and prefect Daniel Grivaz in the cellars of Payerne Abbey (1845, also in the MCBA collection). Both men had come a long way since then. François Bocion had studied with Charles Gleyre in Paris before returning to Lausanne, and now divided his time between teaching and a local career that was on the point of taking off: he was soon to be commissioned by the State of Vaud to produce a major history painting, The Lausanne Disputation (1857, also in the MCBA collection). Rodolphe Blanchet was a noted numismatist and lead curator for the Lausanne Cabinet des médailles, a collection of coinage and medallions. He was also botanical curator at the cantonal museum and a highly respected figure in the Radical Party.
The portrait captures the family in a relaxed, private moment. The Blanchet family owned and managed the vineyards in the background, on the terraced slopes of Lavaux overlooking Lake Geneva. Rodolphe Blanchet is shown both as a public intellectual, book in hand, and as a devoted family man. The boy on his lap holding a bunch of grapes is Charles, later a renowned expert in fossil shells. Adolphe is perched on the balustrade, gazing out over the lake. A painted study of this figure is also held in the museum’s collection. Rodolphe’s daughter sits by his feet, weaving a wreath of vine leaves.