Marie Fargues, the Painter’s Wife 1756 - 1758
jeanetienneliotard
toned paper
water colours
book
possibly oil pastel
oil painting
underpainting
painting painterly
watercolour illustration
green and neutral
watercolor
warm toned green
Jean-Étienne Liotard’s “Marie Fargues, the Painter’s Wife” (1756-58) portrays his wife in a relaxed pose, seated on a divan, wearing a white dress and a blue headscarf. The delicate pastel tones and the sitter’s contemplative expression evoke the intimacy of domestic life, highlighting Liotard’s mastery of the pastel medium. This artwork, currently held in the Rijksmuseum, is a testament to the artist’s talent for capturing the likeness and character of his subjects.
Comments
Liotard was already 54 when he married the 29-yearold Marie Fargues in Amsterdam in 1756. This extraordinary portrait – it is one of Liotard’s largest pastels and necessitated the use of two pieces of vellum – was probably done shortly following their wedding. Liotard chose a composition he had first used in a drawing made in Constantinople and had repeated several times in different contexts: it was, indeed, one of the most famous inventions of his persona as ‘Le peintre turc’.
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