The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Cobbler's Quarters

Cobbler's Quarters

1860s
(French, 1817–after 1872)
France, 19th century
oil on fabric
Unframed: 60.5 x 51.2 cm (23 13/16 x 20 3/16 in.)
Bequest of Noah L. Butkin 1980.257
Location: not on view

Description

This modest room is both the professional and personal domain of its inhabitant. Although the cobbler himself is not represented, he is nevertheless portrayed through all the details of his daily life. On the floor two pairs of boots wait to be repaired, surrounded by craftsman's tools. The pot-bellied stove in the middle of the room provides both heat and a place for cooking meals to be eaten at the folding table in the background at the left. The curtain behind the table probably hides an alcove with the cobbler's bed. A small statuette of Napoleon on the shelf at the upper right suggests the cobbler's political views. Next to it hangs a cage containing a green parakeet. Today the bird would undoubtedly be replaced by a radio, a necessary fixture to keep manual laborers company as they work. Little is known of Duplessy, who studied and worked in Paris, except that he concentrated on still-life painting. His interest in this subject can be seen in the careful rendering of object groupings in this scene. No records of the artist's life exist after 1872, the last year his work was shown at the annual Salon exhibition.
  • T. P. Grange, London (?). Private dealer, London, 1978. Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin, Cleveland. Bequeathed to the CMA in 1980.
  • Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 250-252, Vol. I, no. 90
  • Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).
    The Realist Tradition: French Painting and Drawing 1830 - 1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 12, 1980-January 18, 1981).
    CMA; Brooklyn Museum; Saint Louis Art Museum; Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum, The Realist Tradition: French Painting and Drawing 1830-1900 (1980-82), 147, no. 113 (repr.). Text by Gabriel P. Weisberg.
  • {{cite web|title=Cobbler's Quarters|url=false|author=Jean-Alphonse Duplessy|year=1860s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.257