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Martin Drölling
French, 1752–1817
The Letter
1816
Scenes of everyday life gained prominence in nineteenth-century France as an alternative to grander historical subjects. This painting shows a family gathered in a humble interior, listening to the reading of a letter, perhaps sent by an absent relative. Drölling included finely observed details, like the cracked windowpane and the straw in the corner, to give the scene a convincing sense of realism.
Image Caption
Martin Drölling, The Letter, 1816, oil on panel. Clark Art Institute, 1955.723
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
11 3/16 x 14 7/16 in. (28.4 x 36.7 cm)
Object Number
1955.723
Acquisition
Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status
Off View
Select Bibliography
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972. Cunningham, Charles C., et al. The Elegant Academics: Chroniclers of 19th-Century Parisian Life. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: The Clark, 1974. Ludig, Sandra G. Between the Lines: Ladies and Letters at the Clark. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1982. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.
Provenance
[Knoedler, Paris, sold to Clark, 1 Dec. 1932, as The Letter]; Robert Sterling Clark (1932–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.