Artwork
Nicolas Louis Faret and Madame Nicolas Louis Faret
Nicolas Louis Faret and Madame Nicolas Louis Faret is an oil painting by the Biedermeier artist Martin Drolling. It dates from 1812 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Created in 1812, this oil painting presents a married couple in formal early‑19th‑century dress.
About this work
Technique & Style
Martin Drolling applied the paint in a smooth, controlled manner typical of his academic training, resulting in a finely detailed likeness.
The work is executed in oil paint on canvas, a standard medium for early nineteenth‑century French portraiture. Martin Drolling applied the paint in a smooth, controlled manner typical of his academic training, resulting in a finely detailed likeness. The support is a plain woven canvas primed to receive the oil layers.
No information on handling, condition, or specific stylistic traits beyond the medium is provided in the sources currently available.
History & Provenance
The double portrait of Nicolas Louis Faret and Madame Nicolas Louis Faret was painted by Martin Drolling in 1812, executed in oil on canvas in France. By the early twenty-first century the work had entered the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is recorded under accession number 2011.71. The painting measures 22.4 by 16.5 centimeters. No further details of its commission, intermediate owners, or earlier provenance are documented in the available sources.
The work's creation history is otherwise limited to its 1812 dating and French origin, with no surviving record of the circumstances that prompted Drolling to paint the couple or of the chain of ownership linking the original commission to the Cleveland Museum of Art.
The double portrait of Nicolas Louis Faret and Madame Nicolas Louis Faret is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The institution identifies the work with the accession number 2011.71. Created in 1812, the oil painting on canvas remains part of the museum's permanent holdings in Cleveland.
Context
The painting Nicolas Louis Faret and Madame Nicolas Louis Faret by Martin Drolling was created in 1812 in France and is part of the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection. It is classified as an oil paint on canvas work. The piece depicts a domestic interior scene featuring a young boy and woman, reflecting Neoclassical era interests in bourgeois domestic life.
Martin Drolling, a French painter active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, contributed to this genre, which emphasized realistic portrayals of everyday middle-class activities. The work's composition and subject matter align with contemporary French artistic trends toward genre painting during this period.
Overview
Created in 1812, this oil painting presents a married couple in formal early‑19th‑century dress. The husband stands slightly forward, his dark coat and white cravat contrasting with his wife’s high‑necked gown and draped shawl. A muted, earthy backdrop recedes behind them, allowing the figures to dominate the composition with a restrained, domestic presence.
Subject & Meaning
The work depicts Nicolas Louis Faret and his wife, offering a dignified record of their social standing and personal connection. Their poised stances and attentive gazes convey a sense of mutual respect and quiet intimacy, reflecting the period’s emphasis on family values and the private sphere within the bourgeois milieu.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Martin Drolling, or Drolling the Elder (Oberhergheim, 19 September 1752 – Paris, 16 April 1817), was a French painter.
