School of Jean Baptiste Greuze

School of JEAN BAPTISTE GREUZE Tournus, 1725-Paris, 1805)
"Sleeping child".
Watercolor on paper.
It presents anagram in the inferior zone.
Measurements: 22.5 x 17.5 cm; 48 x 42 cm (frame).
This painting is ascribed to the eighteenth-century sensualist style, although adapted to the romantic canons of the nineteenth century. The influence of Jean Baptiste Greuze can be seen in the freshness of the flesh tones. Greuze bequeathed us similar compositions, of girls hugging puppies, in which he explored the affective bond between the two, symbolizing fidelity and mutual affection. The precision in the details reflected his technical skill and his sensitivity to capture emotional nuances.
Jean-Baptiste Greuze was a French painter and draughtsman whose work played an important role in the evolution of genre painting and portraiture in France during the 18th century. The son of a businessman and architect, from a very young age he showed a marked inclination towards drawing, despite the wishes of his father, who wanted him to devote himself to commerce. His artistic vocation was encouraged by the Lyon painter Charles Grandon, of whom he was a disciple. Subsequently, Greuze moved to Paris with his master and settled in the capital in 1750. He entered as a student at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, under the tutelage of Charles-Joseph Natoire, with whom he had some disagreements.
His debut at the Salon of 1755 was a resounding success, especially with the work The Father of a Family Reading the Bible to His Children, which received an excellent reception. That same year he was admitted as an associate member of the Academy. Between 1755 and 1757 he lived in Rome.
Greuze introduced into French genre painting and portraiture a realism influenced by the Netherlandish tradition, in contrast to the lightness and bright chromaticism that characterized eighteenth-century painting. Through intense facial expressions and dramatically charged gestures, his works assumed a moralizing character, upholding the idea that painting should be closely linked to everyday life. His meticulous attention to detail in sets and costumes not only appealed to the emotional sensitivity of the viewer, but also had an educational and edifying purpose.