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Marcel Proust (1871-1922): Art in Within A Budding Grove, Part 1: Madame Swann at Home

Last Updated: Feb 19, 2024 12:43 PM

Art in Proust - Within A Budding Grove, Part 1: Madame Swann at Home

Assumption by Titian

Titian (ca. 1488/1490-1576), Assumption of the Virgin or The Frari Assumption (1515-1518).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Titian. ArtSTOR has numerous images related to Titian's Assumption.

"I should enjoy the same rapture as on the day when in a gondola I glided to the foot of the Titian of the Frari or the Carpaccios of San Giorgio dei Schiavoni, were I ever to hear Berma repeat the lines beginning, 'On dit qu’un prompt départ vous éloigne de nous, / Seigneur — —'"

St. Augustine by Carpaccio

Vittore Carpaccio (1465-1526), St. Augustine in His Study (1502).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Carpaccio. ArtSTOR has numerous images related to Carpaccio's St. Augustine.

"I should enjoy the same rapture as on the day when in a gondola I glided to the foot of the Titian of the Frari or the Carpaccios of San Giorgio dei Schiavoni, were I ever to hear Berma repeat the lines beginning, 'On dit qu’un prompt départ vous éloigne de nous, / Seigneur — —'"

St. George by Carpaccio

Vittore Carpaccio (1465-1526), St. George and the Dragon (1502).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Carpaccio. ArtSTOR has numerous images related to Carpaccio's St. George.

"I should enjoy the same rapture as on the day when in a gondola I glided to the foot of the Titian of the Frari or the Carpaccios of San Giorgio dei Schiavoni, were I ever to hear Berma repeat the lines beginning, 'On dit qu’un prompt départ vous éloigne de nous, / Seigneur — —'"

Michelangelo (1475-1564), Tomb of Pope Julius II

Michelangelo (1475-1564), Tomb of Pope Julius II (1545).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Author: Jörg Bittner Unna. License: CC-BY-3.0.

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Michelangelo. ArtSTOR has numerous images related to Michelangelo's Tomb.

" ... she had gone herself to the Halles to procure the best cuts of rump-steak, shin of beef, calves’-feet, as Michelangelo passed eight months in the mountains of Carrara choosing the most perfect blocks of marble for the monument of Julius II ... "

Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), Perseus with the Head of Medusa

Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), Perseus with the Head of Medusa (1545-1554).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Author: Paolo Villa. License: CC-BY-AS 4.0 International.

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Benvenuto Cellini. ArtSTOR has numerous works by Benvenuto Cellini.

"And happy to find these reasons for Berma’s superiority, though not without a suspicion that they no more accounted for it than would for that of the Gioconda or of Benvenuto’s Perseus a peasant’s gaping “That’s a good bit of work. It’s all gold, look! Fine, ain’t it?”, I greedily imbibed the strong wine of this popular enthusiasm."

The Loves of the Gods

Annibale Carracci (1560-1609), The Loves of the Gods (1597/1608), in the Palazzo Farnese, Rome.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).


"' ... for my part I can see him very well placed, with his artistic leanings, in the setting of the Farnese Palace and the Caracci Gallery. ... '"

Flowers by da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Flowers (date unknown).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Leonardo da Vinci. ArtSTOR has several images related to da Vinci's Flowers.

"But since I never hoped to obtain an actual fragment of those plaits, if at least I had been able to have their photograph, how far more precious than one of a sheet of flowers traced by Vinci’s pencil!"

Impression, Sunrise

Claude Monet (1840-1926), Impression, Sunrise (1872).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Claude Monet. ArtSTOR has numerous images of Monet's Impression.

"No doubt one can easily imagine [...] that all the revolutions which have hitherto occurred in painting or in music did at least shew respect for certain rules, whereas that which immediately confronts us, be it impressionism, a striving after discord, an exclusive use of the Chinese scale, cubism, futurism or what you will, differs outrageously from all that have occurred before."

Still Life by Gris

Juan Gris (1887-1927), Still Life with Checkered Tablecloth (1915).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Juan Gris and many other Cubists. ArtSTOR has numerous images of paintings by Juan Gris and many other Cubists.

"No doubt one can easily imagine [...] that all the revolutions which have hitherto occurred in painting or in music did at least shew respect for certain rules, whereas that which immediately confronts us, be it impressionism, a striving after discord, an exclusive use of the Chinese scale, cubism, futurism or what you will, differs outrageously from all that have occurred before."

Elasticity by Boccioni

Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916), Elasticity (1912).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).


"No doubt one can easily imagine [...] that all the revolutions which have hitherto occurred in painting or in music did at least shew respect for certain rules, whereas that which immediately confronts us, be it impressionism, a striving after discord, an exclusive use of the Chinese scale, cubism, futurism or what you will, differs outrageously from all that have occurred before."

Savonarola by Fra Bartolomeo

Fra Bartolomeo (1472-1517), Portrait of Girolamo Savonarola (1498).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Fra Bartolomeo. ArtSTOR has two images of Fra Bartolomeo's Savonarola: 1 | 2

"'A frightful woman! The one thing to be said for her is that she is exactly like Savonarola. She is the very image of that portrait of Savonarola, by Fra Bartolomeo.'"

Procession by Gozzoli

Benozzo Gozzoli (1420-1497), Procession of the Magi, on the west wall of the Magi Chapel (ca. 1459).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Benozzo Gozzoli. ArtSTOR has numerous images related to Gozzoli's Procession.

"'But if one had listened to Swann, the processions of the Kings of the East, already so anachronistic when Benozzo Gozzoli introduced in their midst various Medici, would have been even more so ... "

Carmen Aguado by Winterhalter

Franz Xavier Winterhalter (1805-1873), Carmen Aguado, duchesse de Montmorency (1860).

Image source: The Athenaeum. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Winterhalter. ArtSTOR has numerous images of works by Winterhalter.

Mme. Swann swept to the ground in a curtsey and made as if to kiss the hand of the lady, who, standing there like a Winterhalter portrait, drew her up again and kissed her cheek.

Adoration by Luini

Bernardino Luini (1475-1532), Adoration of the Magi (ca. first quarter of the 16th century).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Bernardino Luini. ArtSTOR has two images of Luini's Adoration: 1 | 2

" ... that generous and courteous Swann who had offered it to me, or to them rather, without seeming any more to be conscious of its value than is, in Luini’s fresco, the charming Mage with the arched nose and fair hair, to whom, it appeared, Swann had at one time been thought to bear a striking resemblance."

Two Seated Women by Watteau

Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), Two Seated Women (1716/17).

Image source: Wikiart.org. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Watteau. ArtSTOR has numerous images of Watteau's studies of women.

"Rarely nowadays was it in one of those Japanese wrappers that Odette received her familiars, but rather in the bright and billowing silk of a Watteau gown whose flowering foam she made as though to caress where it covered her bosom ... "

Mona Lisa by da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Mona Lisa ('La Gioconda') (ca. 1503-1516).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Leonardo da Vinci. ArtSTOR has numerous images related to da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

"She used often to say that she would go without bread rather than give up ‘art’ and ‘having nice things about her,’ and that the burning of the ‘Gioconda’ would distress her infinitely more than the destruction, by the same element, of ‘millions’ of the people she knew."

Madonna of the Magnificat

Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), Madonna of the Magnificat (1483).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the USA (pre-1923).

UB ONLY Grove Art Online has a historical and biographical article on Sandro Botticelli. ArtSTOR has numerous images related to Botticelli's Madonna.

"Swann had a wonderful scarf of oriental silk, blue and pink, which he had bought because it was exactly that worn by Our Lady in the Magnificat."