Still life with mandolin , dated 1852

Pastel on canvas

Signed and dated upper right

Dimensions: 61 x 70 cm

With frame 87 x 95 cm

“A very valiant artist, Charles-Louis Gratia, of the School of Nancy, had in his male talent preserved intact the tradition of the Peronneau and the Latour in works among which a large number of portraits of dramatic artists appeared at the Salons de 1837 to 1870 and for which the most authoritative art critics of that time have left us the greatest praise. ", Jany-Robert," Le Pastel ", 1908.

Charles Louis Gratia writes a treatise on pastel. He writes about the way he makes his pastels, emphasizes the need for every artist to make them themselves in order to achieve delicate hues and lasting texture. It informs the manufacturing process; some powders and pigments, very rare and expensive, come from the stamens of flowers or butterfly wings of the tropics. Hence the great freshness of this pastel.

Charles-Louis Gratia gives us a complex and precise nature. He works his composition and organizes the objects with skill for the pleasure of the spectator. Here, the still life is as luxurious as it is modest. It abounds in fresh grapes, the grains of which are full of sugars have their skin stretched until they catch a hint of light. They elegantly frame the mandolin, whose presence gives a conceptual impetus to the composition.   The musical instrument is reflected in the cup, the slender foot of which supports a bunch of grapes. The image is distorted by the curvature of the cut. The rustic pitcher contrasts with the elegant mandolin. The tablecloth, embroidered with golden threads, gives light and sits the composition with refinement in the lower part of the painting. 

The painter is trained with Henri Decaisne. A fine pastellist, he exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1837 to 1882. He mainly represents the beautiful world of Paris, from Frédéric Chopin to George Sand (1866), some studies of anatomy and elegant still lifes. Throughout his career, the painter has no rival; he excels alone at the peak of his art. Member of the Society of French Artists, he frequented the poets Victor Hugo and Alphonse de Lamartine, the painter Ernest Meissonnier and the actor Frédérick Lemaître. Following the political upheavals of the July Monarchy, the painter left for London in 1850 with his wife and two daughters. His sons, one brilliant composer and the other actor, live in Paris.

In London, his beginnings were difficult, although he imposed himself by the art of pastel. The English consecrated his art when he painted the portrait of the Queen's first Chamberlain, Lord Willoughby, and later that of Queen Victoria herself. In order not to excite the jealousy of the official court painter, Franz Xaver Winterhalter, the portrait is not exhibited and the title of the famous model is not disclosed. Back in Paris, “La liseuse”, a portrait of his late daughter, was bought by the State and will be exhibited in the Champs Elysées galleries in Paris. Shortly afterwards, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy acquired one of the portraits of his wife.