This late 19th-century oil painting by French artist Paul Constant Soyer (1823-1903) depicts a rustic cottage interior with an elderly woman spinning wool while a child peels vegetables. Soyer was a significant painter of domestic genre scenes, still lifes, and portraits.
Quiet domesticity, where the silence of endeavour is broken only by the occasional creaking of a spinning wheel. Where grandmother teaches her kin the hand-me-down skills of her ancestors and where prayers are said routinely before every meal at the table. It’s a candid snapshot of an otherwise forgotten moment - an innocuous glimpse through the eyes of an artist at everyday village life. Yet somehow elevated with a sense of old master poignancy and deftly handled chiaroscuro.
Born in Paris, Soyer’s father was a bookseller and his mother, an engraver, so he was rarely short of creative inspiration. His grandfather, Charles Paul Landon, was a former curator at the Louvre Museum.
He trained under the eminent Léon Cogniet (1794-1880) at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and began his career as a painter of religious subjects. When one is furnished with figure painting excellence, the decision is how to apply it.
During his early career, he produced numerous works for churches depicting common subjects, such as the Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, which was also shown at the Salon in 1859. But with the market evolving, thanks to a new impetus from a growing middle-class audience, he turned his attention to genre painting and moved to the quaint village of Ecouen, eight miles north of Paris. Here, he associated with fellow artist Pierre Edouard Frère (1819-1886) and produced some of his finest work.
Ecouen provided an ideal backdrop for his raison d'etre - depicting family life within humble interiors. Artists had an abundance of inspiration on their doorstep and often left easels in local homes. The American, James Crawford Thom (1835-1898), remarked “The village of Ecouen, where we live, is one of the most charmingly picturesque in France. Models, interiors, and interesting subjects are at hand.”
Soyer’s scenes are conspicuous for their muted tones, balanced compositions and dappled brushwork. There’s often a child or two, painted with consummate skill, along with a narrative relating to family and/or craft. In 1865, his ‘Lacemakers at Asnières-sur-Oise’ was acquired by the French government for the Musée du Luxembourg. It’s comparable to this piece and probably undertaken around the same time.
Soyer and Frère soon established a colony and trained numerous artists, particularly those travelling from the USA. They included Henry Seymour Chase Jr. (1853-1889) and a young Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1844-1926). Soyer is credited with encouraging Cassatt to apply more realism to her scenes, which paid dividends when she debuted at the Salon with ‘A Mandolin Player’ in 1868.
In 1870, he was awarded a medal at the Salon, along with another in 1882. Also achieving a medal at the Exposition Universelle in 1889. Following his death in 1903, a monument was erected in Écouen representing an allegory of painting.
He’s represented extensively in public collections including at the British Museum, Walters Art Museum, Petit Palais in Paris, Palace of Versailles, and Manchester Art Gallery.
Signed in the lower left and held within a pierced gilt frame, which is probably original.
Learn more about Paul Constant Soyer in our directory.
Medium: Oil on panel
Overall size: 17” x 14” / 43cm x 35cm
Year of creation: c. 1870
Provenance: Private collection, UK.
Condition: Cleaned. Revarnished. Frame with various marks and showing its age.
Artist’s auction maximum: £15,565 for ‘The Big Sister’, Oil on canvas, Sotheby’s, Fine 19th Century European Paintings and Sculpture, New York, 29 November 1999 (lot 166).
Our reference: BRV2084
