Head of a Girl
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Oil painting of the head and shoulders of a girl. The girl has her hair tied up; she wears a loose brown gown with a grey scarf and a simple white chemise beneath. She looks over her left shoulder, towards the upper right.
Four paintings of women's heads by Jean-Baptiste Greuze hang in the Tower Drawing Room. This one is probably of a peasant girl, dressed in brown and grey. Greuze made many such heads as studies of people's expressions; they were not necessarily made in preparation for larger compositions.
Greuze was well-known for his sentimental genre scenes, portraits and studies of expressive heads (têtes d'expression), painting many such works in the later half of the 18th century. He was made an associate member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1755, but did not submit his reception piece until prompted 12 years later. For this piece, he tried to experiment with the genre of history painting, but without success and was received only as a painter of everyday subjects. After his work was received negatively at the Salon, he did not exhibit there until 1800. He exhibited elsewhere and publicized himself in the press.
During the French Revolution, Greuze made many versions of his 'Head of a Girl'. They were were very popular, and allowed him to keep afloat in this difficult time and after an expensive divorce in 1792. His work was widely collected and remained popular until the last few years of his life. The interest in Greuze resumed in the latter part of the 19th century, by the end of the century studies of girl's heads such as this made record prices. In his memoir of collecting, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild relates a story that he much admired a 'Head of a Girl' by Greuze in his father's collection. As a young boy, he used to imitate the portrait's pose for the amusement of his mother and his parent's guests (Michael Hall; Bric-a-Brac: A Rothschild Memoir of Collecting; Apollo; July 2007-August 2007; 50-77).
Phillippa Plock, 2011
Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)
423 x 346
Signature & date
not signed or dated
Marks
[FRS Liedham?] Liner
Stamp
[verso, stretcher, upper centre, stamp]
Inscriptions
145
Inscription
[verso, frame, upper left, ink]
56
Inscription
[verso, frame, upper centre, chalk]
Labels
Tower Room
Left of fireplace (top)
Label
[verso, stretcher, lower left, ink]
Tower Room
Greuze Left fireplace
Label
[verso, frame, lower left, ink]
Head of a Girl
GREUZE
Label
[verso, stretcher, upper left, ink]
145
Label
[verso, stretcher, upper left, round label, ink]
Provenance
- Acquired by the 4th Marquess Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice of Lansdowne (b.1816, d.1866); by descent to the 5th Marquess Henry Fitzmaurice of Lansdowne (b.1845, d.1927), sold by the Marquess of Lansdowne to Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd, 1883; bought from Agnew's by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (b.1839, d.1898) 30 April 1883 for £1350.0.0, stock no.2695; inherited by his sister Alice de Rothschild (b.1847, d.1922); inherited by her great-nephew James de Rothschild (b.1878, d.1957); bequeathed to Waddesdon (National Trust) in 1957.
Collection
- Waddesdon (National Trust)
- Bequest of James de Rothschild, 1957
Bibliography
- Anna Jameson; Companion to the Most Celebrated Private Galleries of Art; London; Saunders and Otley; 1844; p. 302
- Anita Brookner, French Pictures at Waddesdon, The Burlington Magazine, 101, 1959, 271-273; p. 271; as a peasant girl, c. 1800
- Ellis Waterhouse, Anthony Blunt; Paintings: The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor; Fribourg; Office du Livre, The National Trust; 1967; p. 232, cat. no. 104, ill.