170. Little Girl with Flowers [1879]

The craftsmanship and academic vision will be acquired by the artist as a result of studies under the guidance of the two founding professors of the School of Fine Arts in Bucharest - Theodor Aman and Gheorghe Tattarescu. Sava Henția will also specialize in Paris, guided here by the painter Alexandre Cabanel. Particularly notable as a portraitist, Henția will evolve from mastering the line and volume to the science of color and chromatic matches. From front painting (which he deepens in the volunteer work undertaken in 1877), to portraits, landscapes or genre scenes; the artist will assume and perfect the style, managing to master it so well that he will later assume the position of pedagogue, a position from which he will teach his students drawing and calligraphy for over two decades. In the period 1877-1878, at the encouragement of Dr. Carol Davila, Sava Henția was to assume, along with Nicolae Grigorescu, G.D. Mirea or Carol Popp de Szathmari the function of front painter. He will make numerous representative drawings and sketches during this interval. In 1879, the year of this work's creation, he is instituted as a definitive drawing and calligraphy teacher within the Girls' Externate in Bucharest, but he continues to teach at the "Elena Doamna" asylum. He also collaborates with the publications of the time: "Dziarul pentru toți", but also creates and illustrates for Dimitrie Bolintineanu's novel "Elena". In the same year, he paints another "Little Girl in Blue", with similar features, a work preserved today in the art museum collection in Topalu. Both works reveal the same flowers in the hands of the little protagonists and the same ethereal face. We note here however the contrast between the background depicted in a dark chromatic and the intense blue of the dress, and also the sober atmosphere and the concentrated expression of the model.

Dimensions

width 53 cm, height 73.5 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed and dated on the right side, in red, "S. Henția, 1879"

Dating

1879

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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