Day 204 - Settee


January 10, 2020

I returned to gallery 541, which was, thankfully, open, and turned out to be a small passageway between two larger galleries. Along one wall is a settee (here labeled a sofa), with four small oils arranged symmetrically above it. The paintings seem to have been selected for this space more for their size and format than for any similarities of theme or provenance. Two square-shaped paintings are by 18th century French painters who are unknown to me, Taunay and Pater. The former depicts a billiards room; it shows a table surrounded by men, one of whom wears a not accidentally eye-catching red outfit. The second is entitled "The Golden Age."  I think it shows a group of children and their dog in an outdoor setting. I emphasize "think" because the figures in both paintings are small and because the two paintings are fairly dark in palette and  poorly lit.  Perhaps they need a good cleaning? In contrast, the two rectangular paintings that flank them are iconic views of Venice (Santa Maria della Salute and the Grand Canal and Rialto Bridge) done by members of the workshop of Francesco Guardi, whose dates were 1712-1793. A light blue sky in the upper register of each painting suffuses the two images with light. The paintings serve as a reminder of the power that Venice has exerted over the imagination through the centuries. 

What intrigues me most in the gallery is the settee,  not because I like it so much (it's got thick  ornamentation at the top corners) but because I find its design so interesting. Made of gilded beechwood in France in the latter half of the 18th century by one Claude I Sene, it is about 8 feet long and upholstered in light blue silk. (Perhaps the blue tones of the Venetian scenes and the sky in "The Golden Age" also help account for the paintings' placement above the settee.)  What is distinctive about the settee is its shape: While the main body of the settee faces forward, the two side seats, each of which shares an am and a leg with the central part,  are placed at a 45-degree angle to it, so that whoever was seated in one of these seats could whisper into the ear of the person sitting next to him or her.  Indeed, the settee is termed a "canape'  'a confidents." One can easily imagine that it was conducive to exchanging vows of love- or spreading rumors.

Interesting that I had a fair amount to say about this small space.

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