9781422271742

MASTERS OF ART

PLATE 3 Still Life with Leg of Mutton and Bread (1865–67) Oil on canvas, 10 2 ⁄ 3 x 13 3 ⁄ 4 inches (27 x 35 cm) Cézanne’s technique in the early work is well illustrated in this painting. He uses a heavy impasto, applied with both brush and (more often) a palette knife, which almost suggests a modeled form in bas-relief. As can be seen in the leg of mutton, he used the knife to follow around the form or (with the lower leg) along it to suggest its

structure and feeling. It is clearly the work of someone who is discovering the problems of representational painting. The loaf of bread is an almost amorphous mass, and the whole work is constructed in a traditional tonal form. It is because it is so far from the recognizable Cézanne that is so admired and studied that one could be forgiven for not identifying it as such. It gives clear evidence of the struggle that Cézanne endured in the process of developing his art.

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