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Lot Essay
Filled with an overwhelming sense of serenity and light, Le moineau (The Sparrow) emerged during the earliest years of Eva Gonzalès’s short career, just as she was embarking upon her life as a professional artist. Gonzalès had begun her training under the tutelage of the society painter Charles Chaplin, a friend of her father’s who ran a weekly all-female drawing class and accepted women amongst his private pupils. Chaplin’s Neo-Rococo style became an important touchstone for Eva during her formative years, particularly in its mastery of pastel and elegant play of light and shade, lessons which clearly influence the present composition. Delicately layering and blending the pastels together to achieve a velvety soft finish, Gonzalès demonstrates the bourgeoning artistic skill that brought her to the attention of Edouard Manet in 1869, her teacher and professional advisor throughout the 1870s.
Focusing on the delicate features of her favourite model, her younger sister Jeanne who was then in her teens, Eva creates an elegant, timeless portrait of youth that becomes a meditation on the interplay of light and shadow. The young woman, draped in a swathe of transparent chiffon, appears lost in her own thoughts, her gaze drifting off into the distance while the little sparrow balancing on the edge of her hand looks quizzically up at her. Concentrating the direct light on the model’s bare back, Gonzalès casts Jeanne’s face in soft shadow, granting her a melancholy mystique, her expression remaining inscrutable to the viewer. Touches of bright colour appear in the golden ears of corn that adorn her braided hair, while the delicate play of flesh tints in Jeanne’s face, diligently observed from life, allows Eva to demonstrate her keen understanding of colour. By choosing this moment of quiet introspection, Eva reveals the intimate connection that existed between the two sisters – indeed, their close bond would allow the artist to capture Jeanne in a variety of guises and different expressions over the course of her career, from an elegant spectator at the theatre, to an enigmatic young girl at her toilette, and a dreamy young woman, as she lays in bed, unselfconscious under the gaze of her favourite sister.
Focusing on the delicate features of her favourite model, her younger sister Jeanne who was then in her teens, Eva creates an elegant, timeless portrait of youth that becomes a meditation on the interplay of light and shadow. The young woman, draped in a swathe of transparent chiffon, appears lost in her own thoughts, her gaze drifting off into the distance while the little sparrow balancing on the edge of her hand looks quizzically up at her. Concentrating the direct light on the model’s bare back, Gonzalès casts Jeanne’s face in soft shadow, granting her a melancholy mystique, her expression remaining inscrutable to the viewer. Touches of bright colour appear in the golden ears of corn that adorn her braided hair, while the delicate play of flesh tints in Jeanne’s face, diligently observed from life, allows Eva to demonstrate her keen understanding of colour. By choosing this moment of quiet introspection, Eva reveals the intimate connection that existed between the two sisters – indeed, their close bond would allow the artist to capture Jeanne in a variety of guises and different expressions over the course of her career, from an elegant spectator at the theatre, to an enigmatic young girl at her toilette, and a dreamy young woman, as she lays in bed, unselfconscious under the gaze of her favourite sister.