1866, Paul Cézanne, The Artist's Father, Reading "L'Événement" -- National Gallery of Art (Washington)
From the exhibition label: Louis-Auguste Cézanne had a complicated relationship with his son, whom he had wished to become a lawyer. Despite Émile Zola’s condemnation of Louis-Auguste as cold and stingy, the banker’s willingness to sit for such a monumental portrait indicates some encouragement of his son’s artistic experiments. Cézanne presented his father at home in comfortable clothing, in a pose that a friend described as being “like a pope on his throne.” Rather than have him read his usual provincial newspaper, the artist slyly depicted him with L’Événement, the short-lived, progressive journal for which Zola wrote a notorious article defending avant-garde painters. Cézanne added other autobiographical notes here: one of his still-lifes hangs on the wall, while the dark rectangle at the right shows a view into his studio.
1866, Paul Cézanne, The Artist's Father, Reading "L'Événement" -- National Gallery of Art (Washington)
From the exhibition label: Louis-Auguste Cézanne had a complicated relationship with his son, whom he had wished to become a lawyer. Despite Émile Zola’s condemnation of Louis-Auguste as cold and stingy, the banker’s willingness to sit for such a monumental portrait indicates some encouragement of his son’s artistic experiments. Cézanne presented his father at home in comfortable clothing, in a pose that a friend described as being “like a pope on his throne.” Rather than have him read his usual provincial newspaper, the artist slyly depicted him with L’Événement, the short-lived, progressive journal for which Zola wrote a notorious article defending avant-garde painters. Cézanne added other autobiographical notes here: one of his still-lifes hangs on the wall, while the dark rectangle at the right shows a view into his studio.