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Jean-Baptiste GREUZE (Tournus, 1725 – Paris, 1805)
Young gir…
See original version (French)
329
-
Jean-Baptiste GREUZE (Tournus, 1725 – Paris, 1805)
Young gir…
See original version (French)
Estimate €60,000 - €80,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Jean-Baptiste GREUZE (Tournus, 1725 – Paris, 1805)
Young girl holding a bird in her hands
Oval canvas
Height: 63 cm
Width: 52.5 cm
Carved and gilded wooden frame from the Louis XVI period, stamped Levert
Jean-Baptiste Greuze painted the motif of a young girl near a birdcage at least three times between 1757 and 1800, most often with a dead bird . The most famous version, Young Girl Mourning Her Dead Bird, 1765 (1), has given rise to numerous interpretations, notably that of Denis Diderot, who sees in it an allusion to a tale of seduction (the dead bird is generally interpreted as a symbol of lost virginity, even if this meaning was not obvious to all contemporaries). Greuze indeed plays on an ambiguity between innocence and erotic connotation. The most spectacular version is probably that in the Farida and Henri Seydoux collection, Paris (2), whilst *The Dead Bird*, Paris (Louvre Museum), dated 1800, shows that the artist was interested in this theme for over forty years.
What makes our painting distinctive is that the bird is very much alive and trying to escape from the hands of the young girl, who is holding it carefully and seems to be enjoying the situation. Beside her, an open cage stands with a bowl placed on top of it.
In the 18th century, the bird (often a sparrow or a dove) was a traditional symbol of purity and virginity. This young girl, aged 10 or 11, is leaving the world of childhood. D’Alembert and Diderot’s Encyclopédie refers to the age of puberty as ‘that age when nature is renewed and in which it opens the fountain of feeling’ (3). The bird here is not merely a domestic animal: it represents the girl’s moral state, and the open cage reinforces this idea. The young girl’s expression can be interpreted as naivety, a slight melancholy or even a form of troubled conscience; the bird then becomes a metaphor for freedom, for the desire for time to pass.
We would like to thank Ms Yuriko Jackal for kindly confirming the authenticity of our painting.
(1) 1759 Salon, Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland, Inv. NG435.
(2) Greuze, Childhood in Light, Paris, Petit Palais, 2025, cat. No. 67, ill. p. 288.
(3) Jaucourt, 1765, p. 442.
Expert: Cabinet TURQUIN (Stéphane PINTA)
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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