Jules Arsène Garnier
Bilboquet player, 1879
1879

About the Item

After an initial training at the Toulouse School of Fine Arts, Jules-Arsène Garnier joined the Paris School of Fine Arts in 1867 in Jean-Léon Gérôme's studio. As an academic artist, he exhibited for the first time at the Salon in 1869 and then at the Salon des artistes français until his death in 1889. Jules - Arsène Garnier's painting is part of the so- called "Pompier" trend, in reference to the smooth and shiny aspect of firemen's helmets, which reminded us of Greek and Roman warriors. This licked art, of an extremely careful manufacture, is the dominant current of the 19th century carried by the Academy of Fine Arts. The genre scenes and anecdotal subjects borrowed from history and literature earned the artist great success during his lifetime. He reinvented them in an academic style within large eclectic compositions. He incongruously stages ostentatious female nudes with characters in costumes inspired by the medieval and Renaissance periods. Heir to the Troubadour style that emerged under the Restauration, Jules-Arsène Garnier draws Victor Hugo's tales (Le Roi s'amuse whose action takes place during the reigns of Louis XII and François I) as well as tales of François Rabelais. In particular, he produced a famous series of illustrations of Pantagruel and Gargantua with a licentious lightness. The bilboquet player that we offer is part of this craze for the medieval and reborn past. The game of bilboquet was popularized in France in the 16th century during the reign of Henri III who played it with his court mates called his “mignons”. The figure of the bilboquet player can be found in other works of the artist, always in an idealized costume (ill.1). The bilboquet player that we propose, wearing a yellow and green costumeand wearing a red felt cap typical of the end of the 15th century, was taken up by Jules-Arsène Garnier in his painting Jour de fête (Feast Day) painted the same year and exhibited at the Salon of 1879 under the number 1315 (ill.2). It represents the figure of the troubadour, the poet, the courtly musician.

Creator:

Jules Arsène Garnier (1847 - 1889)

Creation Year:

1879

Dimensions:

Height: 12.6 in (32 cm)Width: 8.67 in (22 cm)

More Editions & Sizes:

Original paintingPrice: $3,541

Medium:

Canvas,Oil

Period:

1870-1879