Portrait of the Artist's Mother
- Medium
- Black, red, and white chalk with stumping on brownish-gray laid paper, laid down on a ivory laid card
- Dimensions
- 37.7 × 29.3 cm (14 7/8 × 11 9/16 in.)
- Genre
- prints and drawing
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Tags
drawings (visual works)chalkprints and drawingpaper (fiber product)
About
This remarkable study of dignified old age is a poignant, rare portrait of Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s mother, Claudine, made when she was approximately 75 years old. Recently discovered, it documents a tender reunion of mother and son. Greuze visited his family in Tournus in 1755 on his way to Italy with Abbot Gougenot. A related drawing in a private Parisian collection has been identified as Madame Greuze Embracing Her Son after 20 Years Absence; the date of that work suggests that the present sheet was also made in 1775.
