La Sortie de bébé

Marcellin Desboutin

1878 · Drypoint; second state of two · Drawings and Prints

Desboutin here portrays his second wife, Dominica Bellardi, adjusting the blankets around the couple’s third son, Jean-François, known by the nickname Tchiquine, asleep in the carriage. Older brother André stands proudly at the handle, ready to push. The artist’s delicate drypoint technique conveys the soft and varied textures, particularly of the textiles, throughout the composition. Like other members of the Impressionist circle with whom he exhibited, Desboutin rejected the period conventions of child portraiture to represent his family in the informal circumstances of their daily life.

Artist

Marcellin Desboutin

Date

1878

Medium

Drypoint; second state of two

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1922