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Two Gentlemen and a Lady

late 1850s-–early 1860s?
Not on view
In this sketch in graphite worked over in ink and pale blue and green washes, a well-dressed woman on the arm of a bourgeois man receives the attention of another on the right. At the center of the composition, she holds open a fan, which appears intended to mediate the advances of the leering suitor. The faint indications of figures in the background make clear that the trio are part of a crowd, possibly at a ball or the intermission of an opera. Poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire heralded the graphic artist Guys as the "painter of modern life" and appreciated his attention to "women decked out with all the artifices and embellishments of fashion." A key embellishment, as shown here, was the fan.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Two Gentlemen and a Lady
  • Artist: Constantin Guys (French, Flushing 1802–1892 Paris)
  • Date: late 1850s-–early 1860s?
  • Medium: Pen and brown ink, brush and brown, green and blue wash, over graphite with touches of red chalk
  • Dimensions: sheet: 9 5/8 x 7 5/16 in. (24.4 x 18.6 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
  • Object Number: 29.100.572
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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The Croatian Portative Narguilé, Constantin Guys French, Pen and brown ink with brush and gray and brown washes
The Croatian Portative Narguilé
Constantin Guys
1855
Ceramic Horn, Glazed pottery, French
Ceramic Horn
French
late 18th or early 19th century
Study of Eleven Heads, Jacques de Gheyn II Netherlandish, Pen and three shades of brown ink with black chalk on laid paper; framing lines in pen and brown ink and graphite
Study of Eleven Heads
Jacques de Gheyn II
late 16th–early 17th century
A Lady with a Veil, Constantin Guys French, Brush and black, gray, and brown wash, over graphite. Laid down.
A Lady with a Veil
Constantin Guys
19th century
Osage Warrior, Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin French, Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Osage Warrior
Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin
1805–7

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