MARTIN DROLLING Lot n° 80

Le passage de la maraîchère Oil on canvas 32.6 x 24.5 cm The market gardener Oil on canvas, 12.8 x 9.6 in. The scene takes place in a street where the daylight illuminating the doorway contrasts with the darkness of the house where the spectator is. In the centre standing, a young market-gardener seems to be offering food carried by her loaded donkey. In the doorway, a young boy seems to be paying attention to the scene unfolding before his eyes. The attitude, pose and clothing of the characters, but also the broom, the donkey and the light, all recall here the peaceful and picturesque atmosphere of domestic intimacy so often depicted by the Flemish and Dutch masters. This genre painting is the work of Martin Drolling, a French painter born in 1752 in Oberherghein. Although he discovered painting by chance and in a self-taught manner, he entered the School of Fine Arts in Paris in 1779. He met Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725 -1805), who introduced him to his genre and domestic interior scenes as well as his portraits. Although Drolling enjoyed moderate success throughout his career, fortune smiled on him a few days too late when, at the Salon of 1817, the crowd was full of praise for his work.