1981.124 Hugues Merle, The First Thorns of Knowledge | DMA Staging Content Management System

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Trained in the French Academic tradition, Hugues Merle was an expert draftsman who relied on the close study of human anatomy and a smooth, polished style to achieve a sense of naturalism in his paintings. Here the defiant gaze of the child draws viewers into an intimate scene of maternal dedication and youthful disobedience as the boy resists learning the alphabet. Although the subject of this painting seems drawn from everyday life, Merle infuses the scene with a timeless quality through the figures’ simple, classicizing attire and pyramidal pose (a stable arrangement of figures that forms a pyramid), which recalls Renaissance depictions of the Virgin and Child. This kind of moralizing and sentimental subject was popular with audiences at the Paris Salon, where Merle regularly submitted works and achieved a high degree of success in the 1860s.

Excerpt from

Nicole Myers, DMA label copy, 2017.

NOTES

Created in 1864

Checked Piction

The defiant gaze of the young child draws viewers into an intimate scene of maternal affection and youthful disobedience. The mother, who functions as a warm and supportive chair, holds an alphabet book in her hand and instructs her infant in his lesson. The furrowed brow and downturned lips of the young boy sharply contrast the patient expression of the mother and reveal his resistance to the lesson.

Hugues Merle, a French painter trained in the Academic tradition, was an expert draftsman who relied on the close study of human anatomy to achieve naturalism in his paintings. He regularly submitted his works to the Paris Salon and was twice awarded the second class medal in 1861 and 1863. The First Thorns of Knowledge once belonged to the Duke of Morny, the half-brother of Napoleon III.

Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2010.

I wrote the NGA to correct error in Merle biography. JR 18

Catalogue essays

Artist/designers

Merle, Hugues (French, 1823-1881)

Cultures

Geography

Process/materials

Oil on canvas

Historical periods

Individuals

Subject terms

RELATED OBJECTS

PROVENANCE

AUDIO ASSETS

VIDEO ASSETS

IMAGE ASSETS

WEB RESOURCES

National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC~Read a brief biography of the artist from the NGA.
The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA~View another painting of a mother and child by Hugues Merle.

ARCHIVAL RESOURCES

FUN FACTS

TEACHING IDEAS

TI Hugues Merle, The First Thorns of Knowledge

RULES

Apply to objects where number equals 1981.124

General Description

Trained in the French Academic tradition, Hugues Merle was an expert draftsman who relied on the close study of human anatomy and a smooth, polished style to achieve a sense of naturalism in his paintings. Here the defiant gaze of the child draws viewers into an intimate scene of maternal dedication and youthful disobedience as the boy resists learning the alphabet. Although the subject of this painting seems drawn from everyday life, Merle infuses the scene with a timeless quality through the figures’ simple, classicizing attire and pyramidal pose (a stable arrangement of figures that forms a pyramid), which recalls Renaissance depictions of the Virgin and Child. This kind of moralizing and sentimental subject was popular with audiences at the Paris Salon, where Merle regularly submitted works and achieved a high degree of success in the 1860s.