Illustration in Jérôme Paturot, by Louis Reybaud, Paris, 1846 1841 - 1851

Curator: Look at this subtle pencil drawing by J. J. Grandville. It’s called "Illustration in Jérôme Paturot," and dates somewhere between 1841 and 1851. The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds it. Editor: The cage seems really present…almost looming. Is the bird out, I wonder, or is it still locked in? There’s this wonderful contrast – on the one hand, that feeling of confinement, on the other, this bright and burgeoning creative energy…the music spilling out of that guitar! It is as if creativity becomes the path toward the liberation of something imprisoned or the cage. Curator: Grandville worked frequently with anthropomorphic imagery, which may also be a way of pointing out hidden dimensions to these so-called "genre paintings." In this illustration, what symbolic load does a guitar bear, especially in conjunction with the quiet desperation suggested by the caged bird? It could hint at creativity as a means to soothe anxiety and discontent, don’t you think? Editor: Totally! Maybe it is a romantic gesture… look how her fingers press to the chord as though playing on his own heartbeat. But it's an intimate setting--a birdcage, a lamp and figures, seemingly reading--and the music brings it all together as something complete. Curator: These kinds of interior scenes are interesting when you view them with 21st century eyes. What was this particular gathering intended to say, decades after the French Revolution, about the new configurations of private and social space? To what extent does the guitar become a heraldic instrument, meant to telegraph particular ideals? Editor: I like how you're thinking about that and thinking historically and formally to find that symbolic intention. In my mind, it just suggests an emotional chord: quiet hopefulness, tinged with that cage looming, maybe. Curator: A delicate scene-- both familiar, and inscrutable! I imagine that there are still new angles through which to examine it, decade after decade. Editor: I'll be tuning into that, for sure. This feels so resonant, still!