978-1-4222-3257-6

cézanne

Pierrot and Harlequin (Mardi Gras) (1888)

Portrait of Dominique Aubert, the Artist’s Uncle (1866)

• Oil on canvas, 40.2 in x 31.9 in (102 cm x 81 cm)

• Oil on canvas, 31.4 in x 25.2 in (79.7 cm x 64.1 cm)

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Cézanne, Paul (1839-1906): Dominique Aubert, the Artist’s Uncle, 1866. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Oil on canvas, 31 3/8 x 25 1/4 in (79.7 x 64.1 cm). Wolfe Fund, 1951; acquired from The Museum of Modern Art, Lillie P. Bliss Collection. Acc.n.: 53.140.1. © 2013. Image copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence

Cézanne, Paul (1839-1906): Shrove Tuesday. Moscow, Pushkin Museum. © 2013. Photo Scala, Florence

It would be hard not to see the family resemblance in this portraiture of Cézanne’s maternal uncle, Dominique Aubert. The artist’s uncle was happy to sit for his nephew and there are at least nine portraits of Aubert. He was even prepared to wear costumes in order to further Cézanne’s work. The artist was feared by a large number of his sitters because he made them stay absolutely still – this helped to give his portraitures the quality of still life pieces, but his demands were fairly harsh for his subjects. Many have suggested that the reason that Cézanne’s portraiture subjects look so tired and somber is because they probably sat for many, many hours – he was said to be a slow painter. Ambroise Vollard sat for 115 sessions for one painting. The painting was eventually abandoned – because the artist was dissatisfied with the result – and he told the sitter that he would eventually find the correct color.

Pierrot and Harlequin (Mardi Gras) is perhaps not as well known as Harlequin , however, this is one of Cézanne’s most important works with figures. It portrays the artist’s 17-year-old son as the confident Harlequin. The theme first influenced the artist in the form of a 17 th -century painting in the museum at Aix. Cézanne painted four works with Commedia dell’Arte (Comedy of Craft) themes, including three single Harlequins and the picture depicted here. This particular painting is probably the most descriptive of the four works and was possibly the first, although there is no concrete evidence of this. The painting shows the two figures against the backdrop of the curtain, suggesting the presence of the stage, somewhere out of sight. In the 19 th century, carnivals were popular in Paris, and the artist first painted his son in a Harlequin costume in 1888. However, carnivals, having been banished for 100 years, were reintroduced to Aix in late 1890 and may have re-influenced the artist around this time. Cézanne’s Harlequin works were known to have influenced Picasso; one painting that attests to this is his Harlequin with Half Mask , 1918.