Artwork Page for Fairy of the Alps

Details / Information for Fairy of the Alps

Fairy of the Alps

c. 1885

Henri Fantin-Latour

(French, 1836–1904)
Culture
France
Medium
charcoal with white chalk and black chalk, with framing lines in black crayon and squaring marks in graphite, on laid paper discolored to tan
Measurements
Sheet: 62.5 x 46.7 cm (24 5/8 x 18 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill Art Purchase Endowment Fund 2019.225
Catalogue raisonné
Dubourg 1242
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

This drawing relates to a print of the same year. Fantin used this sheet to work out his composition before completing a drawing on tracing paper, which was then used to transfer the image to a lithographic stone.

Description

Henri Fantin-Latour’s drawings featured imaginative compositions, often inspired by the music of contemporary German composers. This sheet relates to the symphonic work Manfred by Robert Schumann (1848), a drama in which Manfred encounters apparitions while mourning his lost lover. Fantin used layers of dark charcoal to evoke the emotional tenor of his subject and to translate the experience of listening to Schumann’s music using a visual medium.
A vertically oriented, predominantly dark-toned charcoal and chalk drawing on tan paper depicts a cloaked figure on a rocky ledge in the lower foreground. Reaching upward, they face a pale, draped figure floating within a hazy area of light. Dark, heavy shading forms dense trees on our left, while bright white chalk highlights the apparition. The composition emphasizes the contrast between the shadowy figure and the luminous, ethereal being in the air.

Fairy of the Alps

c. 1885

Henri Fantin-Latour

(French, 1836–1904)
France

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