les saltimbanques public

Les saltimbanques

• Gustave Doré

• 1874

• 19th century french illustrator

• he had many occupations :

• caricaturist
• painter
• lithographer
• sculptor

• died in 1883

the mother, holding her child

the child, wounded at the head

the father, miserable, in despair

The chiaroscuro

the father and the background are painted in an obscure way, due to the accident

whereas the mother and her child are in the clear corner of the painting

the animals, reprentative of their masters feelings

the father's bulldog deeply looking at the injured child

the mother's bichon, dressed just like her, also staring desolately at the child

The meanings hidden behind the owl

• doesn't look at the child but rather maybe at the spectator?
• chained on the drum
• often considered witches' pets

• in the myth :

• represents Athena's wisdow
• described as a diurnal animal, it has the ability to see through darkness
• although it was sometimes associated with the arrival of death

A very special meaning

• he saw himself as a victim of his own painting

" Il se meurt. J'ai voulu dépeindre une prise de conscience tardive chez ces deux êtres endurcis, presque brutaux. Pour gagner de l'argent, ils ont tué leur enfant et en le tuant, ils ont découvert qu'ils avaient un coeur. "

- Gustave Doré -