Jean Michelin ~ Also Signed as Le Nain

If the scene and the people in this painting look similar to those from this week's selection of the week here at Fifty Two Pieces, it's because both paintings are now attributed to Jean Michelin. The Baker's Cart shown here was originally purchased in 1927 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as a painting by Le Nain. After cleaning in 1928, the Museum discovered it was the owner of a painting by a lesser artist, one Jean Michelin in 1656.

Who was this Le Nain and why would Jean Michelin have signed as someone other than himself? The plot thickens when you discover that there were in fact three Le Nain brothers who painted in a common workshop in Paris after 1630. Antoine, Louis and Mathieu never married and seemed to work as one, sometimes even on the same painting. So it must have seemed like second nature to not use their first names when signing. Although some art historians have attempted to identify certain types of works to an individual brother, there is much debate as to the validity of the attributions. Their work was fairly well thought of and a number of other artists imitated their style, including Jean Michelin. Attribution is further complicated because after 1648 when Antoine and Louis died no work is dated. Matthieu Le Nain and Jean Michelin lived on until 1670 when Michelin died and 1677 when Matthieu joined his brothers. All of the paintings by these four artists show the poor to be of solid character and internal worth if not monetary wealth. Michelin was good enough with the Baker's Cart to have had his painting purchased by one of the world's leading art museums.

On a side note, while the French were busy treating subjects with somber stillness in the 1600's, the Dutch saw opportunities for boisterous good humor. In the June 29th issue of the New Yorker, Peter Schjeldahl writes about the Judith Leyster exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, in Washington D.C. Leyster worked in the 17th century at the same time as the Le Nain brothers. Her work is part of an important area of Western art by women prior to the nineteenth century. Click here for the link to the New Yorker article. Pictured to the left is Judith Leyster's self-portrait. Looking at art from the 17th century makes for an interesting afternoon!

The Eldest

My ma wrote the day before yesterday about the pillory. She threw me under the bus for cryin but she didn't mention her own welling up and choking on her breath now did she? Figures. See he was just hanging there by his limbs and we had been going around feeling so bad about ourselves. Made me feel quite guilty. Made me realize how lucky I was just to be able to move my neck a bit and use my legs. The flies were landing on his eyes and up his nose, he was dry as a bone and getting ugly in the sun. Poor old fella.

I don't feel so bad about us anymore. But when I see the baker's family I start to feel poor. They all have shoes, they've all got hats and none of 'em have the pink eye. The artist fellow who paints us in front of this old building square, he says these paintings are all about our "distinctive characteristics". It's about us, the French people, the real people, he calls us.

Michelin ~ Boots

Some people have suggested that the family in Jean Michelin's painting were waiting to time travel. Set apart from their surroundings it is as if they're in a portal to another century. Think about them the next time you see shoes left out. Who belongs to them? Where did they go? Why did they leave behind the shoes? Could the shoes belong to the father from this week's painting? If they do, then he has travelled to Portland -- they have been sitting for several days on NW Thurman between 23rd and 24th. Socks included. Keep looking around, you may see the father from the painting on the streets of Portland.

Jean Michelin ~ Eyes, Hands and Feet

This is certainly the family portrait (Be sure to double click on the image to the right for greater detail). Mother, father, two sons. Amy is writing quite some great stories about them. Let's take a look at them visually. When I first looked at this family, I noticed the eyes. Eight eyes staring not at me but past me into the gallery. And then a closer look at those eyes and all of them but those on the boy on the right had the pink eye. Of course, the effects of conjunctivitis were far more prominent now that the gallery has been painted red. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, color has arrived here at the Portland Art Museum. No longer is each and every wall beige. The first wall to be painted was in the Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art. In May, when Paul Gauguin's "Garden View, Rouen" was first hung, the wall behind it was painted a very dark grayish color. Now in June, the entire box of crayons has been opened and each of the galleries housing the European collection is a different color. The gallery where Jean Michelin's painting is hanging is now a very intense red. The family's conjunctivitis is picking up that red. My preference would have been for a different red, but color is good.

In addition to eyes, I always check out the hands. Good hands in a painting such as this has always been an indication for me of the skill of the artist. The hands that you can see are all fairly well done, except for perhaps the mother's. But then she's had a hard life so who knows for certain.

Next take a look at the boots the father is wearing. Wonderful detail that reminds me of some of Van Gogh's boots. Both Van Gogh's and Michelin's boots have been many places and done many things. They have their own stories to tell. Close your eyes and you can probably think of a story or two. Be prepared for Amy's next story on Saturday.

Head of the Family

The rules have been changing here in Paris. We’ve been on the brink of bankruptcy, the whole country, just take a look at our shoes. The fourteenth King Louis has a new Minister of Finance, Jean Baptiste Colbert. People who hope say things might be turning around. People with brains know the king puts every cent into war, no way the country can prosper. I do give Colbert credit for trying. Everybody calls him a cold fish, actually they call him Le Nord, because he’s cold as the ice that forms there. He’s trying to keep the Dutch out of power here in France. I heard he passed the Mercantilist policy, which means an infrastructure for the country and an end to the purchase of Venetian glass in favor of local glass. I never touched such glass, I wouldn’t want to. My brother has a glass eye, about as much glass as I’ll ever need to see.
According to Colbert, he’ll be strongly regulating guilds now. I heard he’s passed an edict that if three people complain about a merchant’s cloth the merchant will be tied to a pole with it. I can’t complain about my cloth, it’s all I’ve got and as you see it has served me well. Fact is, no one will listen to me complain even if I do. I’ll end up like one of these birds. There are nine dead ones in this painting and only two or three walking around, our fates are not so different. I don’t mean to say I’m close to de-feathered. I’m not. Hell, I’ve still got my teeth, unlike my old lady.
We’ve got the conjunctivitis, all of us but the youngest boy. Pink eye is itchy and makes us look sad, but we’re not. We’re jolly most of the time. I'm happy that our youngest is hanging in there and my older son is worth his salt. If things get much worse I’ll send the boys to the ship yards. Word is they’re building more of the hundred ton merchant ships. There will be twice as many by the end of the century. That means close to 700 ships at sea that size. My lord, we’ll go into boat building and forget all about birds.