The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of May 10, 2024
Woman at the Spinet
1860
Location: not on view
Description
The subject of the woman at the piano was a recurrent theme in Bonvin’s oeuvre. The pianist depicted here was likely Céline Prunaire, a 21-year-old musician who married the much older artist in 1860. Although the meticulously rendered composition celebrates the grace and propriety of the young woman, the happiness of the couple’s union was fleeting. Prunaire left the artist after fewer than three years, never to return. The pink carnation at her feet suggests a note of foreboding to the image, perhaps intended to allude to the ephemeral nature of music and sentimental bonds.- P&D Colnaghi & Co., Ltd., London, "French Drawings: Post Neo-Classicism," Spring Exhibition 1975 (lot #25, repr.); Williams & Son, London, December 11, 1975.
- Snite Museum of Art, and Gabriel P. Weisberg. Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art. 2012. ex. cat. no. 13, p. 56-58
- Themes and Variations: Musical Drawings and Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 25-May 17, 2015).Breaking the Mold: The Legacy of the Noah L. and Muriel S. Butkin Collection of Nineteenth-Century French Art. Snite Museum, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN (organizer) (September 2-December 2, 2012).London: P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. Ltd (Feb. 20-March 27, 1975): "French Drawings, Post Neo-Classicism" cat. # 25, illustrated.
- {{cite web|title=Woman at the Spinet|url=false|author=François Bonvin|year=1860|access-date=10 May 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2010.166