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Museo Nacional del Prado
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0:07:47
Views: 430
Channels: European ArtPaintingSpanish Language
Themes: Learning to Look
Javier Barón, Head of 19th Painting Department, comments the painting The Pearl and the Wave by Paul Baudry as part of the educational programme 'The Prado speaks', an activity that takes place every Friday at noon, in which the museum's professionals comment on works of the collection.
Today we have the opportunity to look at a masterpiece, not just within the oeuvre of Paul Baudry,
who was the most important French painter under the Second Empire
within the aesthetic trend favoured by the court of Napoleon III,
but one of the most famous nudes within the history of 19th-century art.
The work in question is The Pearl and the Wave by Paul Baudry, painted in 1862.
When exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1863 it received both enormous praise
as well as some criticism regarding its questionable decorousness, in other words the mood
of licentiousness that it seemed to convey and which contravened the ideas held by some critics.
t is easy to see how this sensuality is evident in the composition itself,
I for example in the manner of painting the curves of the body.
These include the curve of the armpit, which creates a sort of parabola,
then the broader curve of the waist and finally the one created by the ankles.
This sense of curving is particularly pronounced, as we find it again in the blue background of the wave,
which is defined by highly calculated curves of a concave-convex type
that create a great sense of calmness, serenity and sensuality.
Overall, the effect is markedly placid, tranquil and serene.
This serenity is evident in the nude’s body,
but with regard to the head, which is obviously a key element in the composition,
the turn of the neck and the sideways-looking gaze are much more realistic.
There is a sense of tension in the way that the elbow is articulated,
and above all in the manner of presenting the head and of depicting the gaze
that is provocative or “piquant”, to use the term employed by the French critics of the day.
The term is explicitly sexual, suggesting provocation, and some contemporaries considered the figure
to be not so much the classical goddess Venus rising from the waves as a common dressmaker,
representative of “la vie mondaine” and of a morally loose lifestyle, who seems to offer herself to the viewer.
In addition, the artist himself in a letter to a friend explained how he originally conceived of the work.
It would seem that he intended to entitle it The Wave
and that the nude should convey the idea of something of such fullness that it is about the break or spill over.
Finally, Baudry opted for the title of The Pearl and the Wave
and as such the figure was no longer the personification of the wave but rather the pearl
enclosed within its container, in other words, something pearly in itself.
Please note the surface textures that have become so splendidly evident
following the cleaning of the painting during its restoration by our restorer Lucía Martínez Valverde.
These textures are particularly striking and directly refer to the painting’s title, as if enclosed in a precious container.
given that Baudry explicitly referred to the idea of the pearl enclosed by the wave,
Thus what we have is a sort of marriage or union between the pearl and the wave,
and the ring that became much more clearly visible following the cleaning of the painting
functions to emphasise this connotation of a union between the female figure and the sea that seems to embrace her.
In this sense the sea would be the masculine element that is about to envelop the pearl.
In addition, Baudry noted that he wished to convey the idea of the nude arising from the sea
and being enveloped by the wave.
Thus we have the motif of “Venus Anadyomene” or Venus arising from the Waves,
which is associated with the great classical tradition of depictions of this goddess.
It reached its high point in Venetian painting, particularly of the 16th century,
with which Baudry was notably familiar. Take note also of the pearly textures of the shells
such as this one here. As precious objects they are given prominence
within the painting and thus reflect the taste for virtuoso description typical of this period.
Finally, note the way the way the artist has painted this part of the sea
in which the waves break into foaming crests and which includes the most heavily impastoed areas of brushwork.
The face is extremely precisely defined but other areas such as the hair come closer to different,
less academic and more painterly traditions.
Note the frame made of lignum vitae with its decoration of cockleshells in the corners.
Both French and Spanish 19th-century painters attached particularly importance to the frames,
as we do at the Museum today when presenting the collections.
In fact, when seen unframed in the restoration studio,
this painting seemed quite different to the way it does now with the addition of the magnificent frame
that gives it the appearance that the artist was aiming for. Also worth noting are the pearls on the frame,
which slightly obscure the upper part as they create shadows that fall on the painting,
but which enclose and frame this nude extremely well, creating the sense that she is the jewel contained by the case.
In other words, the painting and frame together involve different sorts of enclosing,
with the marvellous image of the nude at its centre, which is one of the finest nudes in the Prado’s 19th-century collections.
It associated with earlier nudes and with others that we have already seen in the galleries
as well as with later ones such as the one by Rosales, which was painted slightly after Baudry’s work
and is more modern in its approach. Again, the present painting can be linked to other nudes such as the type
represented by Goya’s Majas, which are far more explicitly Venetian than this example by Baudry.
In conclusion, enjoy this painting, which is exhibited for the first time in these galleries, replacing a landscape by Martín Rico.
PERMANENT COLLECTIONThe Pearl and the Wave by Paul Baudry, 1862. French SchoolPresented by Javier Barón, Curatorial Department.
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