English

Broken Eggs

1756
Not on view
In moralizing genre subjects such as this, Greuze bypassed the arcane subject matter of history painting to appeal to a broad public. At the Salon of 1757, a critic even declared that the pose of this young servant girl, whose loss of virginity is symbolized by the broken eggs, was worthy of a history painter. Greuze struck upon such subjects, based in part on seventeenth-century Dutch painting, while still a student in Rome, though he would spend the next decades stubbornly pursuing the official title of history painter.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Broken Eggs
  • Artist: Jean-Baptiste Greuze (French, Tournus 1725–1805 Paris)
  • Date: 1756
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 28 3/4 x 37 in. (73 x 94 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of William K. Vanderbilt, 1920
  • Object Number: 20.155.8
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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