François Bonvin, Woman at the Spinet
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin, 2010.166 · The Cleveland Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0)View original →
François Bonvin

Woman at the Spinet

1860

Current Collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Medium
fabricated black chalk with touches of brown and red chalk and stumping
Dimensions
42 × 30.5 cm
Status
In Museum Collection
Collect24 Art ID
C24-215092

The subject of the woman at the piano was a recurrent theme in Bonvin’s oeuvre. The pianist depicted here was likely Céline Prunaire, a 21-year-old musician who married the much older artist in 1860. Although the meticulously rendered composition celebrates the grace and propriety of the young woman, the happiness of the couple’s union was fleeting. Prunaire left the artist after fewer than three years, never to return. The pink carnation at her feet suggests a note of foreboding to the image, perhaps intended to allude to the ephemeral nature of music and sentimental bonds.

Provenance

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin, 2010.166

Registry history

  • 1860 — Recorded in the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art — drawings

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