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Dimensions: measurements 12 1/8 by 9 1/4 in. alternate measurements 30.5 by 23.5 cm
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Provenance: William P. Babcock (Acquired from the artist)
Collection Bradlee
César de Hauke, Paris
(Probably) Acquired circa 1960s
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Exhibited: London, Tate Gallery, Daumier: Paintings and Drawings, 1961, no. 112, illustrated pl. 24
Zurich, Feilchenfeldt in Zurich 1948-1973, illustrated
Frankfurt, Städtische Galerie & Städelsche Kunstinstitut; New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daumier Drawings, 1993, no. 4, p. 66, illustrated p. 67
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Literature: K. E. Maison, Honoré Daumier, Catalogue Raisonné, London, 1968, vol. II, no. 214, illustrated pl. 45
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Notes: Colta Ives writes, "Youth and age are paired in this impressive double portrait, which focuses on the sculptured terrain of the subjects' faces, leaving the rest of their forms to cloudy suggestion. The furrowed, careworn complexion of the woman is made to contrast poignantly with the smooth brow and plump cheeks of the baby. Both visages compel with truths about the human condition and the passage of time.
Similarities in their angular features, the distinguished nose and heavy-lidded eyes, recall the figure of the rugged old woman who sits with a basket in her lap in Daumier's painting Third-Class Carriage (fig. 1). It is possible to imagine this woman at another moment during her train trip dandling the baby who travels beside her in the painting (her grandchild?) on her knees.
The previously undescribed insciption on the verso of this sheet is probably from the hand of the American painter William P. Babcock (1826-1899), who acquired the drawing from Daumier while living in France" (Colta Ives, Daumer Drawings, New York, 1992, p. 66).
Fig. 1 Honoré Daumier, Third-Class Carriage, 1863-65, oil on canvas, Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
