I’ll be indulging in a highlight of Louis-Léopold Boilly the next day or three. Boilly was an incredibly talented artist, with an extraordinary gift for portraiture. Looking at his paintings, you get a strong sense that you should not be staring in the window, looking at these people, because there is a profound intimacy in his paintings. The Geography Lesson (Portrait of Monsieur Gaudry and His Daughter) is a good example of this intimacy. I also think his portrait of Robespierre is the absolute best. Boilly was a prolific painter, producing a great many small portraits as well as full scale paintings. When it comes to Les Grimaces, I like Les Grimaces 3 best. I think. All images, click for full size!
Consultation de Medecins. 1760, Lithograph, Louis-Léopold Boilly.
Les Grimaces 1, Louis-Léopold Boilly, 1823.
Les Grimaces 3, Louis-Léopold Boilly, Lithograph, 1823.
Les Grimaces 8, Louis-Léopold Boilly, Lithograph, 1823.
The face on the top right of Les Grimaces 8 disturbs me no end. It’s the very definition of dangerous lewdness.
I vote for “Consultation de Medecins”. One can see each doctor advocating his own remedy: Leachs, cupping, clear soup, and so on.
It’s a wonderful expression of the disputation over treatments or recent developments. The stodginess almost wafts off the paper.