The Bath (Stevens)

Painting by Alfred Stevens

The Bath

Artist| Alfred Stevens
Year| ca. 1873
Medium| Oil on canvas
Dimensions| 73.5 cm × 92.8 cm (28.9 in × 36.5 in)
Location| Musée d'Orsay, Paris

The Bath is an oil on canvas painting by Belgian painter Alfred Stevens.

Apparently, two version of the paintings existed, one of which was reportedly destroyed in one of Vienna's fires. The painting was executed around 1873-74.

## Background

[edit]

Stevens was trained as a painter in Brussels. He finished his studies in Paris and thereupon established himself there. During the Second Empire he pioneered and perfected the domestic interior scene, which the Impressionists later adopted. He was inspired by Pieter de Hooch and Vermeer, and painted both on wood panel and, as in the case of Le bain, on canvas.

Stevens made his name in Paris as a painter of beautifully dressed ladies.[1] Unlike Franz Xaver Winterhalter, the official portraitist of the French imperial family, Stevens chose his models among the wealthy upper class ladies.

These demi-mondaines were maintained by their wealthy lovers, and passed their time reading books, making themselves up or at salons and exhibitions while waiting for their lovers to return.[2] The model depicted in Le bain can also be seen in Stevens' Souvenirs and Regrets.

## Painting

[edit]

The painting depicts an apathetic Parisian demi mondaine having a bath. Above the tub there are, fixed to the wall, a swan-shaped tap and a white fixture in the shape of a shell. Instead of holding a bath brush, the model holds two white roses in her right hand, which crosses her body and leans against the tub's side.

The rose may be viewed as a symbol of love and beauty, whereas the tap in the shape of a swan neck might refer to the classical myth of Leda and the swan, adding an erotic subtext to the painting.[3]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "The Parisian Sphinx". KMSKA. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
2. ^ Leen de Jong, in Openbaar Kunstbezit Vlaanderen 1971, p. 4-4b.
3. ^ Marjan Sterckx. "Alfred Stevens". Association of Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art. Retrieved 10 September 2020.

## Sources

[edit]

* Parijs-Brussel, Brussel-Parijs. Realisme, impressionisme, symbolisme, art nouveau. De artistieke dialoog tussen Frankrijk en België, 1848-1914, 1997, p. 172. ISBN 9789061533900
* "Alfred Stevens". Association of Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art. Retrieved 10 September 2020.

## External links

[edit]

* Le bain (Musée d'Orsay)
* [1]
* [2]

* v
* t
* e

Alfred Stevens

1850s|

* What is Called Vagrancy
* The Painter and His Model
* In Memoriam (1858)
* Will You Go Out with Me Fido?

1860s|

* In Memoriam (1861)
* Elegant Figures in a Salon
* Standing Figure of a Woman
* Palm Sunday
* Pleasant Letter
* The Breakup Letter
* The Lady in Pink
* News from Afar
* Admiring the Portrait
* Young Woman in White Holding a Bouquet
* Mademoiselle de Clermont-Tonnerre
* The Present
* The Reader
* Autumn Flowers
* Hesitation (Madame Monteaux)
* L'atelier

1870s|

* Lady Macbeth
* The Blue Ribbon
* Young Woman Resting in a Music Room
* Curious
* La parisienne japonaise
* Meditation
* The Bath
* The Parisian Sphinx
* After The Ball (The Confidence)
* At the Railway Station
* The Japanese Mask
* Fall
* Rêverie (1878)
* Femme au chapeau de paille
* The Widow
* The Attentive Listener

1880s|

* The Artist in Her Studio (Kunstenares in haar atelier)
* Young Woman with a Japanese Screen
* Camille Lemonnier in the Artist's Studio
* Yamatori
* All Happiness
* A Seated Woman in Oriental Dress
* In Deep Thought
* Mother and Her Children
* Mary Magdalene
* L'étude du rôle
* Salome
* In the studio

1890s|

* Storm at Honfleur
* Visit to the Studio
* Puesta de sol

* v
* t
* e

Musée d'Orsay

Building

* Gare d'Orsay

Paintings

| French|

* Baader: Remorse
* Bartholomé: In the Conservatory
* Bastien-Lepage: Haymaking
* Bazille: The Family Reunion – The Improvised Field Hospital – The Pink Dress – Bazille's Studio
* Belly: Pilgrims going to Mecca
* Bonnard: Woman with a Cat
* Bonheur: Ploughing in the Nivernais
* Bouguereau: The Birth of Venus – La Danse – Dante and Virgil – Equality Before Death – Les Oréades
* Boulanger: Répétition du "Joueur de flûte" et de "La femme de Diomède" chez le prince Napoléon
* Bracquemond: The Lady in White – Three Women with Parasols
* Cabanel: The Birth of Venus
* Caillebotte: Les raboteurs de parquet – Vue de toits (Effet de neige)
* Cézanne: The Hanged Man's House – The Card Players – Portrait of Gustave Geffroy
* Chassériau: Arab Chiefs Challenging each other to Single Combat under the Ramparts of a City
* de Chavannes: The Poor Fisherman – The Turtle Seller
* Courbet: A Burial at Ornans – L'Origine du monde – The Painter's Studio – Le ruisseau noir – The Wounded Man
* Couture: The Romans in their Decadence
* Daubigny: The Harvest
* Daumier: The Laundress – The Republic
* Degas: L'Absinthe – The Bellelli Family – Café-Concert at Les Ambassadeurs (1885) – Les Choristes – The Orchestra at the Opera – Portraits at the Stock Exchange – The Tub
* Dehodencq: Boabdil's Farewell to Granada
* Delacroix: Arab Horses Fighting in a Stable
* Denis: Homage to Cézanne
* Detaille: The Dream
* Doré: The Enigma
* Fantin-Latour: Around the Piano – The Corner of the Table – Homage to Delacroix – A Studio at Les Batignolles
* Gauguin: Arearea – The Beautiful Angel – Breton Peasant Women – The Schuffenecker Family – Self-Portrait in a Hat – Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ – Tahitian Women on the Beach – Vairumati
* Gérôme: The Cock Fight – Jerusalem – Reception of the Grand Condé at Versailles
* Gervex: A Session of the Painting Jury
* Glaize: The Gallic Women: Episode from the Roman Invasion
* Ingres: The Source
* Laurens: The Excommunication of Robert the Pious
* Lefebvre: The Truth
* Luce: The Quai Saint-Michel and Notre-Dame
* Manet: The Balcony – Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets – Blonde Woman with Bare Breasts – Bullfight – Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe – Flowers in a Crystal Vase – The Fifer – Madame Manet at the Piano – Olympia – The Port of Boulogne by Moonlight – Portrait of Clemenceau – Portrait of Emile Zola – Portrait of Marguerite de Conflans [1] – Portrait of Monsieur and Madame Manet – Portrait of Stéphane Mallarmé – The Reading – A Sprig of Asparagus – The Waitress
* Matisse: Luxe, Calme et Volupté
* Meissonier: French Campaign, 1814 – The Siege of Paris
* Millet: The Angelus – The Gleaners – Shepherdess with her Flock – The Winnower
* Monet: The Artist's Garden at Giverny – A Cart on the Snowy Road at Honfleur – Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe – The Magpie – Regatta at Argenteuil – Resting Under a Lilac Bush – The Road in Front of Saint-Simeon Farm in Winter – Women in the Garden
* Moreau: The Apparition
* Morisot: The Cradle
* Motte: The Fiancée of Belus
* Ottmann: The Luxembourg Station in Brussels
* Regnault: Summary Execution under the Moorish Kings of Granada
* Renoir: Bal du moulin de la Galette – The Bathers – Dance in the City – Dance in the Country – Frédéric Bazille at his Easel – Girls at the Piano – Portrait of the Painter Claude Monet – Portrait of William Sisley – The Swing
* Rousseau: The Snake Charmer
* Sérusier: The Talisman
* Seurat: The Circus
* Sisley: Avenue of Poplars near Moret-sur-Loing – The Canal du Loing – The Canal Saint-Martin – Chemin de la Machine, Louveciennes – The Forge at Marly-le-Roi – Regatta at Molesey near Hampton Court – Resting by a Stream at the Edge of the Wood – Rue de la Chaussée in Argenteuil – View of the Canal Saint-Martin – The Village of Voisins
* Toulouse-Lautrec: Le Lit – La Toilette

|

American|

* Harrison: Solitude
* Tanner: The Resurrection of Lazarus
* Whistler: Whistler's Mother

Belgian|

* van Rysselberghe: Sailboats and Estuary
* Stevens: The Bath – What is Called Vagrancy

British|

* Burne-Jones: The Wheel of Fortune

Dutch|

* Van Gogh: L'Arlésienne – Bedroom in Arles (3rd version) – The Church at Auvers – Starry Night Over the Rhône – Portrait of Dr. Gachet (2nd version) – Doctor Gachet's Garden in Auvers – Imperial Fritillaries in a Copper Vase – Self-portrait

Finnish|

* Edelfelt: Pasteur's portrait by Edelfelt

Italian|

* Boldini: Madame Charles Max – Portrait of Robert de Montesquiou

Spanish|

* Sorolla: The Return from Fishing: Hauling the Boat

Sculptures

| French|

* Barrias: Nature Unveiling Herself Before Science
* Clésinger: Woman Bitten by a Serpent
* Claudel: The Mature Age
* Delaplanche: Virgin with a Lily
* Jacquemart: Rhinocéros
* Gauguin: Objet décoratif carré avec dieux tahitiens – Oviri

|

* [1] On display at the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template