The unhappy family - Octave Tassaert (1800-1874)

Octave Tassaert (1800-1874),
The unhappy family
Oil on canvas,
55 x 45 cm

Reduced by the artist, signed and dated 1855 lower right.
“Snow covered the roofs; an icy wind whipped at the window of this narrow, cold dwelling; an old
woman warmed her pale, trembling hands at a brazier. The young girl said to her: “O my mother,
you weren't always in this state of destitution!...” And the old lady looked at the image of the
Virgin, and the young girl sobbed. A little while later we saw two women, luminous as souls,
reaching for the sky.”
Poem by the artist to illustrate his painting at the Salon of 1850.
The large version of this painting in the Musée d'Orsay was exhibited at the London World's Fair in 1866.

We know other reductions of this painting, all different. One was owned by Alfred Bruyas and the other by Alexandre Dumas, the artist's son and
friend, who organized his funeral and prefaced his catalog raisonné.

In its exceptional original gilded frame.

Provenance :

- Collection of Prince Alexis Soltikoff.
- Michel Yakountchikoff de Saint Pertersbourg Collection, his sale on April 22, 1870, lot 40 bought
by Cerf 1700 frs - Paul Michel-Lévy Collection, then his sale on Wednesday and Thursday,
October 16 and 17, 1889, lot 17 2050 frs, (same Corot sale 1020frs).
- Galerie Lorenceau, Paris, 1947.
- By descent
- French private collection.

Bibliography:

- Number 146, Octave Tassaert, Notice sur sa vie et Catalogue de son Oeuvre par
Bernard Prost, Préface par Alexandre Dumas Fils, L. Baschet, éditeur, Paris, 1886