COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
CMA_.1996.1
AMICA Library Year:
2000
Object Type:
Paintings
Creator Name:
Vien, Joseph-Marie
Creator Nationality:
European; French
Creator Role:
artist
Creator Dates/Places:
1716 - 1809
Biography:
Born and trained in Montpellier, Vien moved to Paris in 1740 where he quickly achieved success, largely with the support of Natoire and Boucher. Vien won the Grand Prix in 1743 which allowed him to study in Rome until 1750. He entered the Academy in 1754. In 1775 he became director of the French academy in Rome and served as first painter to Louis XVI for less than a year in 1789.In the 1750s, Vien abandoned the Rococo style of Boucher and Natoire in favor of a Neoclassical mode. Besides taking up ancient or "Greek" subjects, his brushwork became smoother and harder, his palette increasingly cooler. Vien is considered on of the earliest Neo-classical painters and in that sense his career parallels that of Benjamin West in Britain. Vien's Neo-classicism was of supreme importance to the formation of the art of Jacques-Louis David, his pupil.
Gender:
M
Creator Name-CRT:
Joseph-Marie Vien
Title:
Sweet Melancoly
Title:
La douce mélancolie
Title Type:
Primary
Title Type:
Foreign
View:
Full View
Creation Date:
1756
Creation Start Date:
1756
Creation End Date:
1756
Materials and Techniques:
oil on canvas
Dimensions:
Framed: 86.4cm x 76.2cm x 6.5cm, Unframed: 68cm x 55cm
AMICA Contributor:
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Owner Location:
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
ID Number:
1996.1
Credit Line:
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Inscriptions:
Signed lower right: "jos. m. vien / 1756"
Provenance:
Madame Marie-Thérèse Geoffrin (purchased from the artist for 400 livres); M. de Damery (according to an engraving of Beauvarlet). Count du Barry (his sale, 21 November 1774, no. 93). Prince de Conti (his sale, 3 February 1777, no. 732). Marquis de Saint-Marc [perhaps-no lot] (his sale, Paris, 23 February 1859). (Wildenstein, 1979-1980). Private collection, London (1988: cat.).
Context:
This is one of the earliest Neoclassical paintings created in France. Inspired by the excavation of the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, painters like Vien began to include classicalarchitecture, furniture, and costumes in their work. Vien also changed his style of painting by favoring smoother surfaces, finer brushstrokes, and cooler colors. The artist transmitted this style to his pupil Jacques-Louis David, the best-known Neoclassical painter.This painting is among the earliest depictions of "Sweet Melancholy," a subject derived from traditional emblems that became very popular in the late 18th century. The woman is not a tragic mourner or a brooding intellectual, but rather a gently regretful figure. The letter on the table may have brought news of a distant or lost love, while the dove underscores the sweetness of the scene.
Related Image Identifier Link:
CMA_.1996.1.tif
La douce mélancolie
