A portrait of a child by Jean-Baptiste Greuze

 

There are several versions of this portrait of a young boy which regularly appear at public auctions. This portrait illustrates the painter’s penchant for depicting youth, which aligns with the moral concerns of the time and the growing interest in rural life, respect for the elderly, childhood and education. Through his portraits, Jean-Baptiste Greuze developed a new genre: a form of painting that observed emotions, placing carefree innocence at the centre of attention for the first time. This portrait bears a close resemblance to many other portraits of children, such as the one held at the Cognacq-Jay Museum or that at the Condé Museum, to the extent that one might wonder whether it depicts the same subject, albeit slightly older. The comparison is interesting and demonstrates how skilfully Greuze captures the most fleeting emotions of early childhood, through a series of variations.

Greuze sketched numerous portraits of children whose natural spontaneity makes them subjects rich in meaning, delighting even the most erudite of his contemporaries. Far removed from the porcelain-like figures found in some of his works—which he produced in abundance—here the line is supple and free-flowing, as in the beautiful portrait of *Le Petit Boudeur* sold by Christie’s in 2010. His portraits of children have captivated many collectors and enjoyed considerable success.

Jean-Baptiste Greuze, born in Tournus in 1725, held an important place in^18th-century French art, renowned throughout Europe during the Age of Enlightenment. His work was disseminated through engravings, both during his lifetime and long afterwards, serving as a model in drawing schools, particularly his ‘character heads’. Greuze drew a large number of isolated, expressive heads, mostly in red chalk and occasionally in pastel, which were then engraved and sometimes painted, thereby conferring on the expressive head the status of a work of art in its own right and even giving rise to a genuine artistic movement, as evidenced by the numerous heads now found in international collections.

Trained in the studio of a Lyon-based master, whom he followed to Paris in 1750, Jean-Baptiste Greuze subsequently received tuition from Charles-Joseph Natoire (1700–1777) at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. He was admitted as a full member in 1755 on the strength of his *Father Reading the Bible to His Children* (Lens, Louvre Museum). This painting was purchased in 1755 by a wealthy financier and art lover, Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully (1725–1779), who displayed it in his mansion. Greuze thus gained a certain reputation, particularly amongst philosophers such as Denis Diderot, who praised him for the moral nature of his subject, which, it is true, stood in stark contrast to the light-hearted tone of the Rococo style.

That same year, 1755, Abbé Gougenot, on a diplomatic mission, took him to Naples and then to Rome, where Greuze spent about a year. From this stay in Italy, he drew inspiration above all from popular or picturesque scenes, which would inspire a number of paintings exhibited at the 1757 Salon. Two years later, at the 1759 Salon, he presented genre scenes such as *The Sleeping Knitter * or works expressing bawdy sentiments, such as *Young Girl Mourning the Death of Her Bird*. In 1764, the presentation of *The Village Fiddler* proved a triumph for Greuze, thanks in particular to Denis Diderot’s review of the work.

 

Disappointed at being admitted to the Academy merely as a ‘genre painter’, he continued to produce and exhibit works in his studio, which both the Court and the public continued to visit regularly. Engravers such as Jean-Jacques Flipart (1719–1782) helped to popularise his paintings. The Revolution and the rise of Neoclassicism dealt a fatal blow to Greuze, whose works were met with indifference at the very beginning of the^19th century.