Playmates
Playmates c1903 by French Painter Emile Munier (1840 – 1895); Academic portraitist who was mentored by French Painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825 – 1905).
This is an adorable portrait of a young girl of about the age five that is in her white sleeping gown sitting in a large arm chair, leaning against and resting her upper back and head on a large dark pillow.
The young irl is looking at one of her playmates a small white cat with brown accents on its head and back, that she is holding with her left hand that is positioned on a large white pillow that is pressed up against the curved arm of the chair.
At the same time with her right hand, she is embracing a black puppy with brown accented fur that she is leaning her head on and which has a ribbon tied around it with a bell attached.
Behind the chair is a large red embroidered drape with gold tassels along its leading edge and to the right are four large pane windows with a white embroidered curtain diagonally placed across them.
On the arm chair she is sitting on is a white embroidered cover and the chair also has green tassels along its bottom edge.
Beside the chair is a side table that has a large cup and saucer, with a metal spoon in the cup that contains what looks like milk; and lastly there is a decorative carpet on the floor that extends throughout the room.
Petite Fille et Chat is a remastered digital art old masters reproduction of a public domain image that is available as a lærred print online.
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Emile blev født i Paris, Frankrig til Pierre François Munier; en kunstnerpolstrer på gobelinfabrikken Nationale des Gobelins (i Paris Frankrig) og Marie Louise Carpentier, en polermaskine i en kashmir-stofmølle.
Han havde også to brødre François og Florimond; det sammen med ham, der uddannede sig og arbejdede som kunstner i en periode på Nationale des Gobelins.
På fabrikken blev Emile uddannet som tegner af Abel Lucas, og ville udvikle et tæt forhold til Abel og hans familie, hvilket førte til, at Emile giftede sig med Lucas’ datter Heriette i 1861.
Desværre inde 1867, seks uger efter, at hans kone fødte deres søn Emile Henri, hun fik svær gigt, og døde for tidligt.
I 1871 Emile forlod gobelinfabrikken for at male på fuld tid, samt at give malerundervisning til voksne tre aftener om ugen.
Så ind 1872 Emile giftede sig med Sargine Augrand, en elev af Abel Lucas og ven af Emile og Henriette; parret havde en datter Marie-Louise, som er født i 1874.
I 1884 he received a commission from Governor Leland Stanford of California and his wife Jane Stanford to create painting of their son Leland Stanford, Jr., who had passed away at the age of 15 flere år; ahd he titled the piece Angel Comforting His Grieving Mother; which the boy as angel that returned to earth to comfort his mother with his hand placed on her shoulder.
One of Emiles most influential teachers was the French Painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825 – 1905), and one can see the influence he had on Emile in many of the pieces he created and over time the two became close friends as well.
Et af hans mest berømte værker, that demonstrated this influence is his piece Trois Amis or Three Friends, at han udstillede på Paris Salon i 1885; der forestillede en buttet lille pige, der leger på sin seng med sin killing og hund.
Dette værk var så vellidt af offentligheden, at det blev gengivet i mange former og også blev brugt til reklame af det britiske sæbefirma Pears Soap; som blev etableret i 1807, producerer verdens første gennemsigtige sæbe.
Dette maleri var med til at etablere ham som en af de førende malere af små børn og deres kæledyr; og han ville fortsætte med at male sådanne scener sammen med dyrefiskescener, havlandskaber, landskaber, genre bondescener, mytologiske og religiøse emner gennem de tidlige 1890'ere indtil hans alt for tidlige død i 1895 i en alder af 55.