Painting of a Sailor and his family on a terrace, titled "Reading the Letter"

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Adolphe Bonny
Painting of a Sailor and his family on a terrace, titled "Reading the Letter"
1904

About the Item

Best known for charming and elegant portraits and genre paintings, Adolphe Bonny received his artistic training in Toulon, where he studied under the painter Pierre Letuaire (1798-1884). Bonny’s innate talent allowed him to progress quickly as a student and by the age of 18, he had already been named an adjunct professor in Letuaire’s atelier. Soon thereafter, the mayor of Toulon granted Bonny a fellowship that enabled him to perfect his talents at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and Ecole des Arts Décoratifs. Bonny returned to Toulon in 1874, where his assisted with the founding of the Atelier des Beaux-Arts there. Beginning at an early age, Bonny made a name for himself as a portraitist and genre painter. His facture and light, supple touch, and crisp, clear palette resulted in elegant images, the tone of which is reminiscent of eighteenth-century paintings. At the same time, Bonny demonstrated an interest in landscape painting, producing numerous watercolors of the area around Toulon. La Lecture de la letter sur la Terrasse, a work that dates to 1904, demonstrates a combination of Bonny’s interests and displays his prodigious talent for creating charming genre scenes. On an early autumn afternoon, an envoy from the French Navy has delivered a letter, perhaps from the family’s father, which the mother reads aloud to her sons. One assumes from the setting that the father is a naval officer. The expanse of the terrace, for example, suggests an upper-middle class home, and the fact that the house is set in the hills of Toulon would allow the family to view the city’s port, which Bonny indicates with a patch of blue to the far left of the work. Also on the terrace are a toy boat and a straw boater, items that not only stand in for the absent male figure but that reinforce the impression he is presently away at sea. The family’s youngest child seems riveted by the sailor’s uniform and has turned his attention from the mother’s words to gaze at the messenger who stands respectfully and at a bit of a distance from the family group. The quiet and peaceful tone of the painting, a sensation produced by Bonny’s soft, harmonious palette and delicate brushstrokes, suggests that the news the letter contains is good. Perhaps as the leaves continue to turn, the mother and her sons will watch from the terrace as the father’s ship sails into port, and the family will be reunited.

Creator:
Adolphe Bonny (1849 - 1933)
Creation Year:
1904
Dimensions:
Height: 33 in (83.82 cm)Width: 43 in (109.22 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
Medium:
Oil
Movement & Style:
Academic
Period:
Early 20th Century
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Washington, DC
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU123825766611