Sacrificing Dolls 1871

Luc-Olivier Merson painted ‘Sacrificing Dolls’ using oil on canvas, a traditional material in fine art. The artist uses visible brushstrokes to construct the scene, layering paint to give depth to the figures' robes, the altar, and the surrounding landscape. Oil paint allows for a great degree of realism, with meticulous attention to light and shadow. But Merson's loose, painterly approach here lends the scene a sense of movement and life. The canvas itself provides a woven ground for the image, its texture interacting with the oil paint to produce the final effect. 'Sacrificing Dolls' is an allegory of a lost Classical world. The medium of oil on canvas, itself a product of centuries of European artistic tradition, ties the work to a specific cultural and historical context. While oil painting has long been associated with 'high art,' this connection shouldn't diminish our appreciation for the skill and craft involved in creating such a work. Merson’s painting invites us to consider the materiality and labor involved in the creation, as much as the final image itself.