Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet, 'Children at a Church Door', about 1817-45
About the work
Overview
Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet is known chiefly for his lithographs – he produced around 2,000 of them – but he also worked in other media, including oil sketches such as this one. Children often appear in his pictures, their spontaneous behaviour gently mocking social customs and pretensions.
In this small painting we see a group of young children being directed into a church by several clergymen dressed in black. The priest in the foreground has a sign pinned to his back that reads ‘Hane’ – a childish misspelling of ‘âne’ (ass). Charlet provides a generalised impression of most of the children, but he singles out a few, most notably the boy on the right, who defiantly faces us with his arms firmly crossed as he smokes a clay pipe. His red cap is perhaps a reference to the red ‘liberty’ caps worn during the French Revolution, which itself had been overtly anti-clerical. The boy behind him also wears a cap with the colours of the French tricolour.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Children at a Church Door
- Artist
- Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet
- Artist dates
- 1792 - 1845
- Date made
- about 1817-45
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 24.1 × 33 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Sir Robert and Lady Witt to the Tate Gallery through the Art Fund, 1926; transferred, 1956
- Inventory number
- NG4140
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, with additions and some revisions by Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, etc.’, London 1970; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1957Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1957
-
1970Davies, Martin, and Cecil Gould, National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists etc., London 1970
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.