Portrait of the Bellelli Family
Encyclopedia
The Bellelli Family, also known as Family Portrait, is an oil painting
on canvas by Edgar Degas
(1834–1917), painted ca. 1858–1867, housed in the Musée d'Orsay
. A masterwork of Degas' youth, the painting is a portrait of his aunt, her husband, and their two young daughters.
While finishing his artistic training in Italy, Degas drew and painted his aunt Laura, her husband the baron Gennaro Bellelli (1812–1864), and their daughters Giulia and Giovanna. Although it is not known for certain when or where Degas executed the painting, it is believed that he utilized studies done in Italy to complete the work after his return to Paris. Laura, his father's sister, is depicted in a dress which symbolizes mourning for her father, who had recently died and appears in the framed portrait behind her. The baron was an Italian patriot exiled from Naples
, living in Florence
.
Laura Bellelli's countenance is dignified and austere, her gesture connected with those of her daughters. Her husband, by contrast, appears to be separated from his family. His association with business and the outside world is implied by his position at his desk. Giulia holds a livelier pose than that of her sister Giovanna, whose restraint appears to underscore the familial tensions.
, inviting him to stay with her in Florence; it was there that Gennaro Bellelli, who had been a political journalist supporting the fight for Italy's independence, took refuge from Austrian persecution after defeat of the Revolution of 1848
. Degas arrived in Florence by 4 August, living with his uncle Gennaro and making studies in the Uffizi
. By September he had become bored, did not get along well with Gennaro, and remained only to see Laura, Giovanna, and Giulia, who had prolonged their stay in Naples following the death of Degas' grandfather Hilaire on 31 August.
That there were strains within the Bellelli household at the time was almost certainly noticed by Degas, and confirmed by another uncle: "The domestic life of the family in Florence is a source of unhappiness for us. As I predicted, one of them is very much at fault and our sister a little, too." Laura subsequently confided to Degas that, living in exile, she missed her Neapolitan family, and further, that her husband was "immensely disagreeable and dishonest... Living with Gennaro, whose detestable nature you know and who has no serious occupation, shall soon lead me to the grave." Laura Bellelli was pregnant at the time, and it has been suggested that this circumstance, and the subsequent death of the child in infancy, may have contributed to her unhappiness and to domestic tensions in general. These conflicts would provide both background and content for the painting.
At year's end Degas stopped work on the double portrait of his young cousins in order to begin a larger painting; it is unclear whether he was undertaking The Bellelli Family itself, or making preparatory sketches.
The preparatory works include portrait studies and compositional details in pencil, pastel, and oil. One drawing indicates Degas' initial intention to have Gennaro Bellelli seated at the end of the table, and an oil sketch placed him standing behind his daughters; finally, Degas painted him in the armchair.
In late March 1859 Degas left Florence to return to Paris. Other than the conclusion that Degas worked on the picture "for several years", there is no documentation to confirm the actual time or place at which the picture was painted; a likely scenario is that Degas brought to France numerous sketches and studies and painted the picture in a studio procured for this purpose in Paris. Supporting this conclusion is the observation that the Bellelli's apartment was too small to host such a large work, and there were no studio facilities. In March 1860 Degas returned to Italy, in part to conduct family business, and in April he again visited the Bellellis and made several drawings of his uncle; at some point he also executed a pastel which, but for some differences in details and a greater elaboration of the interior in the final painting, is close to the ultimate composition.
There is a family account, once accepted but more recently deemed unlikely, that offers a different version: a Neopolitan lawyer who married one of Degas' grandnieces claimed that the painting was completed in Italy, and only brought back to France some forty to fifty years later, but this is contradicted by evidence that the painting was exhibited in the Paris Salon
of 1867.
, Giorgione
, and Botticelli, among others. Other prototypes whose influence have been cited, particularly in terms of composition, include 17th-century Dutch genre and portrait painting
, the portrait studies of Ingres
, Velázquez
's Las Meninas
, the portraits of Hans Holbein
, the Family of Charles IV
by Francisco Goya
, Gustave Courbet
's After Dinner at Ornans, and a lithograph by Honoré Daumier
entitled A Man of Property. As in Las Meninas, a picture, mirror, and doorway are used to expand the space of the interior. Any and all historical models were synthesized into a composition that was "unique in the painter's oeuvre and unique among the works of his contemporaries." Taking his family and their living environment as his subject, the painting represented Degas' first attempt "to characterize a room in relation to the personalities and interests of the individuals who inhabit it."
Viewed alongside the work of Degas' contemporaries, the painting's uniqueness was due in large part to the composition, which presents a family portrait painted on the grand scale of a historical drama, and whose content has been interpreted as psychologically penetrating, with the placement of the figures suggestive of the parents' alienation from one another, and of the divided loyalties of their children. Laura Bellelli stands as if for an official portrait, her expression indicative of her unhappiness, one hand resting protectively on Giovanna's shoulder, the other balancing her pregnant body; Giulia, in the center of the painting and seated in a small chair, displays youthful restlessness as she faces, arms akimbo, in the direction of her father, and is the compositional link between her estranged parents. Gennaro appears indifferent, turned toward but seated apart from his family, his face mostly in shadow. The commanding figure of Laura is placed against a flat wall and a crisp picture frame, while Gennaro's more recessive figure is framed by a mantelpiece, bric-a-brac, and a reflective mirror. The clarity of the former's surroundings and the ambiguity of the latter's have been interpreted as expressive of their emotional distance. Telling, also, is the physical distance between them, as well as the difference in their postures. Their opposition has been seen as a "breaking of the frame": "it is as if [Gennaro] were morosely watching his family as they pose for his painter nephew". The family dog glimpsed at the lower right corner is, according to Arthur Danto
, sensibly "sneaking out of the picture before all hell breaks loose". One is reminded of Laura Bellelli's note to Degas after he had returned to Paris: "You must be very happy to be with your family again, instead of being in the presence of a sad face like mine and a disagreeable one like my husband's."
The drawing hung on the wall behind them is a portrait of the recently deceased Hilaire Degas, and was presumably a study for the portraits Degas made of his grandfather, drawn in the style of the Clouet
s. By placing it directly behind his aunt's head, Degas was connecting the generations of his family, and following a convention of portraiture used since the Renaissance
, that of including ancestral effigies. By its very placement Degas was implicitly affirming his own presence and identifying with Laura, with whom, as their correspondence attests, he was unusually close.
The unease of The Bellelli Family was not an anomaly, nor were such tensions revealed solely through the study of portraiture; in fact, alienation between the sexes was a recurring condition in Degas' work of the 1860s. Sulking and Interior Scene (The Rape)
are both works of ambiguous content set in contemporary Paris, and The Young Spartan Girls Provoking the Boys and The Misfortunes of the City of Orleans occur in the ancient and medieval eras, yet in each "the element of hostility between the sexes is apparent", and in the latter the hostility has turned deadly. The Bellelli Family is notable for introducing psychological conflict in a painting that documents his own family. Given his usual discretion, it is reasonable to assume that such expressions were the product of Degas' unconscious mind.
discussed Degas' withdrawal from the Salons because his work was badly hung and ignored as a result, adding "The portrait of his brother-in-law (I believe) and his family is a great work"; and the fact that Degas requested permission at the last minute to retouch his submissions to the 1867 Salon, and that the hasty reworking would account for the picture's later crackling and blackish streaks.
The Bellelli Family remained with Degas until his last move in 1913, at which time he left it with his dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel
. The painting was not seen again publicly until after Degas's death, when it was put up for sale in 1918 as part of the painter's estate. Its unexpected appearance created a sensation, and The Bellelli Family was immediately purchased by the Musée du Luxembourg
for 400,000 francs.
In 1947 the painting was exhibited in the Musée d'Impressionisme (Jeu-de-Paumes), and subsequently moved to the Musée d'Orsay.
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
on canvas by Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...
(1834–1917), painted ca. 1858–1867, housed in the Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, an impressive Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture,...
. A masterwork of Degas' youth, the painting is a portrait of his aunt, her husband, and their two young daughters.
While finishing his artistic training in Italy, Degas drew and painted his aunt Laura, her husband the baron Gennaro Bellelli (1812–1864), and their daughters Giulia and Giovanna. Although it is not known for certain when or where Degas executed the painting, it is believed that he utilized studies done in Italy to complete the work after his return to Paris. Laura, his father's sister, is depicted in a dress which symbolizes mourning for her father, who had recently died and appears in the framed portrait behind her. The baron was an Italian patriot exiled from Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, living in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
.
Laura Bellelli's countenance is dignified and austere, her gesture connected with those of her daughters. Her husband, by contrast, appears to be separated from his family. His association with business and the outside world is implied by his position at his desk. Giulia holds a livelier pose than that of her sister Giovanna, whose restraint appears to underscore the familial tensions.
Background
In 1856 Degas left his home in Paris to study art and visit family relations in Italy, arriving in Naples on 17 July. In 1857 he traveled between Naples, where he stayed with his grandfather, Hilaire Degas, and Rome. At the end of July 1858 Laura Bellelli wrote to Degas from NaplesNaples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, inviting him to stay with her in Florence; it was there that Gennaro Bellelli, who had been a political journalist supporting the fight for Italy's independence, took refuge from Austrian persecution after defeat of the Revolution of 1848
Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states
The 1848 revolutions in the Italian states were organized revolts in the states of Italy led by intellectuals and agitators who desired a liberal government. As Italian nationalists they sought to eliminate reactionary Austrian control...
. Degas arrived in Florence by 4 August, living with his uncle Gennaro and making studies in the Uffizi
Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...
. By September he had become bored, did not get along well with Gennaro, and remained only to see Laura, Giovanna, and Giulia, who had prolonged their stay in Naples following the death of Degas' grandfather Hilaire on 31 August.
That there were strains within the Bellelli household at the time was almost certainly noticed by Degas, and confirmed by another uncle: "The domestic life of the family in Florence is a source of unhappiness for us. As I predicted, one of them is very much at fault and our sister a little, too." Laura subsequently confided to Degas that, living in exile, she missed her Neapolitan family, and further, that her husband was "immensely disagreeable and dishonest... Living with Gennaro, whose detestable nature you know and who has no serious occupation, shall soon lead me to the grave." Laura Bellelli was pregnant at the time, and it has been suggested that this circumstance, and the subsequent death of the child in infancy, may have contributed to her unhappiness and to domestic tensions in general. These conflicts would provide both background and content for the painting.
Process
After his aunt and cousins returned in early November 1858 Degas undertook a series of works that would eventually culminate in The Bellelli Family. It appears that he initially planned to paint a vertical composition depicting his aunt and her two daughters in a pyramidical grouping. He painted his cousins in their black dresses and white pinafores, while his father wrote letters from Paris, offering advice on how best to proceed with the project, and impatiently awaited his return. Degas wrote of Giulia and Giovanna:"The elder one was in fact a little beauty. The younger one, on the other hand, was smart as can be and kind as an angel. I am painting them in mourning dress and small white aprons, which suit them very well…I would like to express a certain natural grace together with a nobility that I don't know how to define...."
At year's end Degas stopped work on the double portrait of his young cousins in order to begin a larger painting; it is unclear whether he was undertaking The Bellelli Family itself, or making preparatory sketches.
The preparatory works include portrait studies and compositional details in pencil, pastel, and oil. One drawing indicates Degas' initial intention to have Gennaro Bellelli seated at the end of the table, and an oil sketch placed him standing behind his daughters; finally, Degas painted him in the armchair.
In late March 1859 Degas left Florence to return to Paris. Other than the conclusion that Degas worked on the picture "for several years", there is no documentation to confirm the actual time or place at which the picture was painted; a likely scenario is that Degas brought to France numerous sketches and studies and painted the picture in a studio procured for this purpose in Paris. Supporting this conclusion is the observation that the Bellelli's apartment was too small to host such a large work, and there were no studio facilities. In March 1860 Degas returned to Italy, in part to conduct family business, and in April he again visited the Bellellis and made several drawings of his uncle; at some point he also executed a pastel which, but for some differences in details and a greater elaboration of the interior in the final painting, is close to the ultimate composition.
There is a family account, once accepted but more recently deemed unlikely, that offers a different version: a Neopolitan lawyer who married one of Degas' grandnieces claimed that the painting was completed in Italy, and only brought back to France some forty to fifty years later, but this is contradicted by evidence that the painting was exhibited in the Paris Salon
Paris Salon
The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...
of 1867.
Composition and content
The work of many artists provided inspiration: at this time Degas included in his correspondence mention of Anthony van DyckAnthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next...
, Giorgione
Giorgione
Giorgione was a Venetian painter of the High Renaissance in Venice, whose career was cut off by his death at a little over thirty. Giorgione is known for the elusive poetic quality of his work, though only about six surviving paintings are acknowledged for certain to be his work...
, and Botticelli, among others. Other prototypes whose influence have been cited, particularly in terms of composition, include 17th-century Dutch genre and portrait painting
Dutch Golden Age painting
Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history generally spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years War for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republic was the most prosperous nation in Europe, and led European trade,...
, the portrait studies of Ingres
Ingres
Ingres Database is a commercially supported, open-source SQL relational database management system intended to support large commercial and government applications...
, Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
's Las Meninas
Las Meninas
Las Meninas is a 1656 painting by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The work's complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and creates an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures...
, the portraits of Hans Holbein
Hans Holbein the Younger
Hans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history...
, the Family of Charles IV
Charles IV of Spain and His Family
Carlos IV of Spain and His Family is an oil on canvas painting by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya completed in the summer of 1800. It features life sized depictions of Charles IV of Spain and his family, ostentatiously dressed in fine costume and jewellery...
by Francisco Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
, Gustave Courbet
Gustave Courbet
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. The Realist movement bridged the Romantic movement , with the Barbizon School and the Impressionists...
's After Dinner at Ornans, and a lithograph by Honoré Daumier
Honoré Daumier
Honoré Daumier was a French printmaker, caricaturist, painter, and sculptor, whose many works offer commentary on social and political life in France in the 19th century....
entitled A Man of Property. As in Las Meninas, a picture, mirror, and doorway are used to expand the space of the interior. Any and all historical models were synthesized into a composition that was "unique in the painter's oeuvre and unique among the works of his contemporaries." Taking his family and their living environment as his subject, the painting represented Degas' first attempt "to characterize a room in relation to the personalities and interests of the individuals who inhabit it."
Viewed alongside the work of Degas' contemporaries, the painting's uniqueness was due in large part to the composition, which presents a family portrait painted on the grand scale of a historical drama, and whose content has been interpreted as psychologically penetrating, with the placement of the figures suggestive of the parents' alienation from one another, and of the divided loyalties of their children. Laura Bellelli stands as if for an official portrait, her expression indicative of her unhappiness, one hand resting protectively on Giovanna's shoulder, the other balancing her pregnant body; Giulia, in the center of the painting and seated in a small chair, displays youthful restlessness as she faces, arms akimbo, in the direction of her father, and is the compositional link between her estranged parents. Gennaro appears indifferent, turned toward but seated apart from his family, his face mostly in shadow. The commanding figure of Laura is placed against a flat wall and a crisp picture frame, while Gennaro's more recessive figure is framed by a mantelpiece, bric-a-brac, and a reflective mirror. The clarity of the former's surroundings and the ambiguity of the latter's have been interpreted as expressive of their emotional distance. Telling, also, is the physical distance between them, as well as the difference in their postures. Their opposition has been seen as a "breaking of the frame": "it is as if [Gennaro] were morosely watching his family as they pose for his painter nephew". The family dog glimpsed at the lower right corner is, according to Arthur Danto
Arthur Danto
Arthur Coleman Danto Arthur Coleman Danto Arthur Coleman Danto (born January 1, 1924 is an American art critic, and professor of philosophy. He is best known as the influential, long-time art critic for The Nation and for his work in philosophical aesthetics and philosophy of history, though he...
, sensibly "sneaking out of the picture before all hell breaks loose". One is reminded of Laura Bellelli's note to Degas after he had returned to Paris: "You must be very happy to be with your family again, instead of being in the presence of a sad face like mine and a disagreeable one like my husband's."
The drawing hung on the wall behind them is a portrait of the recently deceased Hilaire Degas, and was presumably a study for the portraits Degas made of his grandfather, drawn in the style of the Clouet
Clouet
Clouet is a surname, and may refer to:* François Clouet French Renaissance miniaturist and painter* Jean Clouet , French Renaissance miniaturist and painter, and father of François Clouet...
s. By placing it directly behind his aunt's head, Degas was connecting the generations of his family, and following a convention of portraiture used since the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, that of including ancestral effigies. By its very placement Degas was implicitly affirming his own presence and identifying with Laura, with whom, as their correspondence attests, he was unusually close.
The unease of The Bellelli Family was not an anomaly, nor were such tensions revealed solely through the study of portraiture; in fact, alienation between the sexes was a recurring condition in Degas' work of the 1860s. Sulking and Interior Scene (The Rape)
Interior (Degas)
Interior , also known as The Rape , is an oil painting on canvas by Edgar Degas , painted in 1868–1869. Described as "the most puzzling of Degas's major works", it depicts a tense confrontation by lamplight between a man and a partially undressed woman...
are both works of ambiguous content set in contemporary Paris, and The Young Spartan Girls Provoking the Boys and The Misfortunes of the City of Orleans occur in the ancient and medieval eras, yet in each "the element of hostility between the sexes is apparent", and in the latter the hostility has turned deadly. The Bellelli Family is notable for introducing psychological conflict in a painting that documents his own family. Given his usual discretion, it is reasonable to assume that such expressions were the product of Degas' unconscious mind.
Exhibition history and provenance
The painting was almost certainly conceived as an exhibition piece, for it is doubtful that Degas would have painted something so ambitious in scale for purely private satisfaction. In April 1859 Degas wrote his father asking him to look for a studio in Paris so that he could work on an unspecified project; probably The Bellelli Family was the work he had in mind, and it is believed that the painting was eventually exhibited in the Salon of 1867. Although reviews made no mention of the picture, that this is the painting which Degas exhibited under the title of Family Portrait is supported by several pieces of evidence: a critic who later visited Degas in his studio referred to "the admirable Family Portrait of 1867"; in 1881 the painter Jean-Jacques HennerJean-Jacques Henner
Jean-Jacques Henner was a French painter, noted for his use of sfumato and chiaroscuro in painting nudes, religious subjects, and portraits....
discussed Degas' withdrawal from the Salons because his work was badly hung and ignored as a result, adding "The portrait of his brother-in-law (I believe) and his family is a great work"; and the fact that Degas requested permission at the last minute to retouch his submissions to the 1867 Salon, and that the hasty reworking would account for the picture's later crackling and blackish streaks.
The Bellelli Family remained with Degas until his last move in 1913, at which time he left it with his dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel
Paul Durand-Ruel
Paul Durand-Ruel was a French art dealer who is associated with the Impressionists. He was one of the first modern art dealers who provided support to his painters with stipends and solo exhibitions....
. The painting was not seen again publicly until after Degas's death, when it was put up for sale in 1918 as part of the painter's estate. Its unexpected appearance created a sensation, and The Bellelli Family was immediately purchased by the Musée du Luxembourg
Musée du Luxembourg
Musée du Luxembourg is a museum in Paris, France. It occupies the east wing of the Palais du Luxembourg, whose matching west wing originally housed Ruben's Marie de' Medici cycle. Since 2000 it has been run by the French Ministry of Culture and the Senate and is devoted to temporary exhibitions...
for 400,000 francs.
In 1947 the painting was exhibited in the Musée d'Impressionisme (Jeu-de-Paumes), and subsequently moved to the Musée d'Orsay.
Condition
At the time of its sale in 1918, the painting was in poor condition. In addition to the black streaks and crackling, it had tears and was dust-covered, and may have been kept by Degas for many years rolled-up in the corner of his successive studios. At some point, possibly in the 1890s, Degas restored the painting, sewing up tears, applying gesso to them, repainting Laura Bellelli's face, and retouching those of his uncle and cousins. However, prior to the painting's sale a restorer apparently misinterpreted these repairs and scraped them off, re-injuring the portraits of Gennaro and Giulia. The painting was subsequently restored in the 1980s.Assessment
When exhibited at the sale of Degas' atelier in 1918, the picture elicited some confusion from critics; one called it "as dull as a Flemish interior, although the dry technique is distinctive." Most of the reviews were positive, and with the country at war, The Bellelli Family was seen as possessing a distinctly French character, a "modern primitive" that bore comparison to the Avignon Pieta. Since then, biographers of Degas have acknowledged it as the masterpiece of his youth.Sources
- Baumann, Felix; Karabelnik, Marianne, et al. Degas Portraits. London: Merrell Holberton, 1994. ISBN 1-85894-014-1
- Boggs, Jean Sutherland; et al. Degas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988. ISBN 0-87099-519-7
- Danto, Arthur (December 12, 1988). "Degas". The Nation: 658.
- Kagan, Donald "Western Heritage-7th Edition" (Pg. 829), 2001.
- Reff, Theodore. Degas: The Artist's Mind. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harper & Row, 1976. ISBN 0-87099-146-9
- Sutton, Denys. Edgar Degas: Life and Work. Rizzoli, New York, 1986. ISBN 0-8478-0733-9
External links
- Musée d'Orsay, Edgar Degas, The Bellelli Family.