Anne, ma soeur Anne, ne vois-tu rien venir?

Auguste Garneray

1817 · Watercolor · Drawings and Prints

Part of an artistic family, Garneray was a drawing instructor to members of the Bonaparte family and designed costumes for the opera. He is best known today for watercolors in a Troubadour style, a reaction against Neoclassicism that drew primarily upon medieval and Renaissance subjects. This work presents a scene from Charles Perrault’s story "La Barbe Bleue" (Bluebeard, 1697). In a meticulously rendered gothic setting, Bluebeard’s young wife kneels by the doorway at left with her hands clasped, preparing to beg for his forgiveness for her disobedience. At the center of the composition, her sister Anne, in blue, looks out the open window. An inscription below the image quotes a famous line from the text: "Anne, sister Anne, do you see anyone coming?"

Artist

Auguste Garneray

Date

1817

Medium

Watercolor

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Roberta J.M. Olson and Alexander B.V. Johnson, 2018