Sunbathing
Ca. 1890. Oil on canvas.Not on display
The scene takes place in the Parc de Monceau in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. In the background, the Barrière de Chartres by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736–1806).
This work was painted in Paris at the time Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movements were developing. This canvas is in fact unaffected by the boldness of the new masters and belongs to a rigorous photographic realism. It is quite likely that the artist used stereoscopic photography to achieve the admirable precision of the background. The children in the composition seem to belong to a wealthy family. They are out for a drive on a sunny winter morning and have stopped to feed the pigeons. The bright morning atmosphere and the seriousness of the small main characters are, together with the documentary value, the most valuable features of this curious composition.
Pérez Sánchez, A.E (com), El niño en el Museo del Prado, Madrid, Ministerio de Cultura, Dirección General de Bellas Artes, 1983, p.162
