Gustave Courbet* (1819-1877)

Portrait d'une jeune fille de Salins (Portrait of a young Girl from Salins)

Details

Gustave Courbet* (1819-1877)
Portrait d'une jeune fille de Salins (Portrait of a young Girl from Salins)
signed and dated '60 G. Courbet' (lower left)
oil on canvas laid down on panel
19 x 14.5/8 in. (48 x 37 cm.)
Painted in 1860

Provenance

Mazaroz-Ribalier; sale, Htel Drouot, Paris, 13 May 1890, lot 6 (titled La Jeune Espagnole)
Flix Grard pre; sale, Htel Drouot, Paris, 25 February 1896, lot 19 (titled La Jeune Espagnole)
M. Thiollier (acquired from the above sale)

Literature

G. Riat, Gustave Courbet, peintre, Paris 1906, p. 178.
R. Fernier, La Vie et l'oeuvre de Gustave Courbet, Catalogue raisonn, Geneva, 1977, vol. I, (Peintures: 1819-1865), p. 152, no. 248 (illustrated, p. 153).

Exhibited

Paris, Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts, Exposition des Oeuvres de Gustave Courbet, May 1882, no. 49.

Lot Essay

According to Robert Fernier, Courbet painted this charming portrait of a young country girl in 1859 during a visit to Salins with Champfleury. Her smock trimmed with white lace would indicate that she dressed up for her portrait. She is realistically portrayed and most likely represents an accurate depiction of the sitter. Courbet could easily have included this type of young girl as a spectator in one of his monumental Realist paintings, The Burial at Ornans or The Artist's Studio.