DOI Heft:
No. 41 (August, 1896)
DOI Artikel:Keyzer, Frances: Eugène Carrière
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17297#0153
It was after his early days spent at Strasbourg,
after his eyes had been opened to the beauty
of the structure of the human face—under the
fascinating influence of those marvellous paintings
of La Tour at Saint-Quentin—after the study of
the Old Masters in Dresden, and the few years at
the Beaux-Arts, under Cabanel, that he passed
five years of his life at Vaugirard, in a little by-
street, with his wife and children as his models and
with work as his absorbing thought—work, long
and tedious, far into the night, and with the
passionate fervour that could not be otherwise than
fruitful with the steadfast, honest purpose he had
in view. In the midst of his family, 'at his side
his wife, who has been the ideal companion of the
artist—such an one as Andrea del Sarto dreamed
for the completion of his talent, to have lifted
him to the level of Raphael and Angelo—the
woman to whom he owed the inspiration of his
great subject of Maternity; here at Vaugirard
Carriere's talent may be said to have taken shape.
Carriere is not only the painter of Maternity, he
is a great portrait painter; one who, while drawing
the external forms, also dives into the mind. As
M. de Goncourt put it: " He seemed to pump
out my life as he fixed me with his penetrating
glance." To picture the soul is Carriere's aim. It
is not his ambition to leave what he terms a beau
morceau depeinture ; his mind is concentrated upon
reproducing the personality of the man or woman
before him, upon giving the sensations of the
living, thinking human being, and as we look upon
the canvas we feel the power of the artist's thought
and do not stop to consider in what form it is con-
veyed to us, whether through a painting, through
a poem, or through music. This mind-picturing
is particularly remarkable in his portraits, not only
of Edmond de Goncourt, but of Alphonse Daudet,
Jean Dolent, Gabriel Seailles, Gustave Geffroy, and
Verlaine.
In Edmond de Goncourt's portrait Carriere has
given us a full measure of his art; he expresses
with great clearness and strength the character of
the author in the eyes and forehead and in the
subtle touches of the mouth.
M. Alphonse Daudet, in the original painting,
is seated with his child, a little girl, near him.
The hands, which are always so admirably under-
137
after his eyes had been opened to the beauty
of the structure of the human face—under the
fascinating influence of those marvellous paintings
of La Tour at Saint-Quentin—after the study of
the Old Masters in Dresden, and the few years at
the Beaux-Arts, under Cabanel, that he passed
five years of his life at Vaugirard, in a little by-
street, with his wife and children as his models and
with work as his absorbing thought—work, long
and tedious, far into the night, and with the
passionate fervour that could not be otherwise than
fruitful with the steadfast, honest purpose he had
in view. In the midst of his family, 'at his side
his wife, who has been the ideal companion of the
artist—such an one as Andrea del Sarto dreamed
for the completion of his talent, to have lifted
him to the level of Raphael and Angelo—the
woman to whom he owed the inspiration of his
great subject of Maternity; here at Vaugirard
Carriere's talent may be said to have taken shape.
Carriere is not only the painter of Maternity, he
is a great portrait painter; one who, while drawing
the external forms, also dives into the mind. As
M. de Goncourt put it: " He seemed to pump
out my life as he fixed me with his penetrating
glance." To picture the soul is Carriere's aim. It
is not his ambition to leave what he terms a beau
morceau depeinture ; his mind is concentrated upon
reproducing the personality of the man or woman
before him, upon giving the sensations of the
living, thinking human being, and as we look upon
the canvas we feel the power of the artist's thought
and do not stop to consider in what form it is con-
veyed to us, whether through a painting, through
a poem, or through music. This mind-picturing
is particularly remarkable in his portraits, not only
of Edmond de Goncourt, but of Alphonse Daudet,
Jean Dolent, Gabriel Seailles, Gustave Geffroy, and
Verlaine.
In Edmond de Goncourt's portrait Carriere has
given us a full measure of his art; he expresses
with great clearness and strength the character of
the author in the eyes and forehead and in the
subtle touches of the mouth.
M. Alphonse Daudet, in the original painting,
is seated with his child, a little girl, near him.
The hands, which are always so admirably under-
137