Franz Xaver Winterhalter

Description

The artist’s genre scenes illustrate the simple pleasures of Italian peasants and musicians. If Winterhalter was inspired by reality, he nevertheless offers an idealized version of this universe populated by beautiful and festive characters. Our drawing of a Young Italian Musician Counting her Pennies in a Tambourine is a good example. The artist suggests the difficult existence of this young woman with her melancholy expression but whose dark hair, tanned complexion, and almond-shaped eyes make her particularly attractive.

Winterhalter drew little, preferring to attack his canvases directly. The few known sheets, mainly in graphite, date from the beginning of his career and are inspired by the graphic technique of the Nazarenes. Among his drawings we can site his two self-portraits executed around 1830, the preparatory drawing for the painting of Sophie de Baden and her son painted in 1832, the series of portraits of artists from Rome, and his sketchbooks made in Italy. Our drawing also dates from the beginning of the artist’s career. It may have been executed in Italy or at the start of his stay in Paris. Indeed, the pose of the woman has affinities with that of the painting Young Girl of Ariccia executed in 1838; their feet, their legs and their dresses are in identical positions, and they both hold tambourines.