Jean-Baptiste Mallet
French, 1759-1835
The Evening Prayer
INV-2299
Jean-Baptiste Mallet
French, 1759-18351790
The Evening Prayer
Jean-Baptiste Mallet French, 1759-1835 →watercolorprints and drawing
Date
1790
Medium
Opaque watercolor, over traces of black chalk, on cream laid paper, laid down on card
Dimensions
Primary support: 28.8 × 38.6 cm (11 3/8 × 15 1/4 in.); Secondary support: 29.5 × 38.9 cm (11 5/8 × 15 3/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Margaret Day Blake Fund
Jean-Baptiste Mallet was a painter and printmaker who specialized in small, elegant gouaches (opaque
watercolors) of enigmatic subjects, such as this. Arranged like an implausible stage set, a monk-like character and an old man wearing a Phrygian cap appear to reprimand a largely female family who must have fallen on tough times, given that their handsome carpet and ornamental birdcage decorate a rusticated farm building.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
Le Culte Naturel (The Natural Worship)
Jean-Baptist Mallet French, 1759-1835
Le Bain d'Amour (Love Bath) (Furnishing Fabric)
Designed by Cholet Samuel (French, 1786-1874) after paintings by Jean Baptiste Mallet (French, 1759–1835) Manufactured by Favre-Petitpierre et Cie. (French, active c. 1815) France, Nantes
