La descente des Bohémiens (The Descent of the Bohemians)
Artist
Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña
(French, 1808–1876)
Dateabout 1844
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 61 × 44.8 cm (24 × 17 5/8 in.)
framed (no buildout): 99.1 × 82.6 × 11.4 cm (39 × 32 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.)
framed (no buildout): 99.1 × 82.6 × 11.4 cm (39 × 32 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. John S. Ames
Object number1961.45
Label TextDiaz was largely self-taught, having only had brief formal training after painting porcelain at the Sèvres factory early in his career. He developed much of his skill copying paintings at Paris’s Louvre Museum. Around 1833, Diaz began visiting Barbizon, a town forty miles southeast of Paris, and painting in the nearby Fontainebleau Forest alongside artists like Théodore Rousseau, his mentor, as well as Charles-François Daubigny and Camille Corot, whose work is on view nearby. Like his fellow Barbizon artists, Diaz worked outdoors. The colorfully dressed Eastern “Bohemians” were likely inspired by artwork he saw at the Louvre, such as Eugène Delacroix’s North African and Turkish figures. These fanciful additions distinguish Diaz’s work from other Barbizon landscapists. Diaz embraced a bright palette and the thick application of paint applied loosely, and as such, scholars often identify his work as a precursor to impressionism.ProvenanceE. Secretan (sold, Paris, Sedelmeyer, July 1, 1889, no. 20), F.L. Ames (?), gifted by Mr. and Mrs. John S. Ames, North Easton MA to the Worcester Art Museum, 1961.On View
Not on view
