Two girls spinning and knitting

Details

François Bonvin (Vaugirard 1817-1887 Saint-Germain-en-Laye)
Two girls spinning and knitting
signed and dated 'f. Bonvin 83' (lower left)
charcoal, red and white chalk on blue paper, fragmentary watermark shield with letters
11 1/8 x 8 ½ in. (28.1 x 21.6 cm)

Provenance

with Schweitzer Gallery, New York, 1979.
with Didier Aaron, New York.

Literature

G. P. Weisberg, Bonvin. La Vie et l'œuvre, Paris, 1979, no. 246, ill.
N. Strasser, Dessins du XIXe au XXe siècle. Du Romantisme à l'Après-guerre. Collection Jean Bonna, Geneva, 2019, no. 56, ill.

Exhibited

London, Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, Nineteenth Century French Drawings, 1980, no. 44.

Brought to you by

Furio Rinaldi

frinaldi@christies.com +1 212 636 2328

Lot Essay

During the 1850s, after his studies at the École de dessin in Paris, François Bonvin became interested in the representation of the everyday life of peasants, often depicting isolated figures. Two sheets also showing a woman knitting or spinning wool and dressed in the costume of Britany, datable between 1853 and 1855, are at the Musée Cantini in Marseille (inv. 168), and the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh (inv. D 4947). They were prompted by the artist’s trip to Britany in the summer of 1853.

More from Old Master & British Drawings Including Works from the Collection of Jean Bonna

View All