"Charles Louis GRATIA (1815 – 1911) Nancy school-"Still life with mandolin", dated 1852"
Pastel on canvas, signed and dated at the top right
Dimensions: 61 x 70 cm, with frame 87 x 95 cm
"A very valiant artist, Charles-Louis Gratia, from the School of Nancy, had in his great talent preserved intact the tradition of the Peronneaux and the Latours in works among which a large number of portraits of dramatic artists appeared at the Salons from 1837 to 1870 and of which the most authorized art critics of that time, left us the greatest praise.", Jany-Robert, "The Pastel", 1908.
Charles Louis Gratia writes a treatise on pastel. He writes about the way he makes his pastels, insists on the need for each artist to make them himself in order to obtain delicate shades and a 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 very great freshness of our pastel.
Charles-Louis Gratia gives us a complex and precise nature. He works on 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 with fresh grapes, whose sugar-soaked grains have a taut skin 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 thin 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 seats the composition with refinement in the lower part of the painting.
The painter was trained under 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 anatomy studies and elegant still lifes. Throughout his career, the painter has no rival, he excels alone at the top of his art. Member of the Society of French Artists, he frequents the poets Victor Hugo and Alphonse de Lamartine, the painter Ernest Meissonnier and the comedian Frédérick Lemaître. Following the political upheavals of the July Monarchy, the painter left for London in 1865 with his wife and two daughters. His sons, one a brilliant composer and the other an actor, remain 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 painter of the court, Franz Xaver Winterhalter, the portrait is not exposed and the title the illustrious model is not revealed. Back in Paris, "The reader", portrait of his late daughter, is bought by the Elysee Palace, in Paris. Shortly after, the Nancy Museum of Fine Arts acquired one of his wife's portraits.
Museums: Nancy, Nottingham.
Bibliography : . Charles-Louis Gracia, "Treatise on Pastel painting", Nancy, Failly: Association of Lorraine artists (founded by Charles-Louis Gracia in 1892), first edition 1891, reissue 2014. To read on: http://www.pastel-noun.com/pages/traite-de-pastel-charles-louis-gratia.html
. Louis Dussieux, "French artists abroad, third edition", Paris, Librairie Jacques Lecoffrre et Cie, p. 297
. Jany-Robert, "The Pastel", Paris, Fine Arts Printing House, 1908, p. 11-12 and p. 2