Page 10 - Courbet

confess that I have been guilty of not dissimilar comportment, though I was fortunate, eventually, to remain on
excellent terms with the ‘victim’ of my egocentrism.

As I pondered upon this clash of the sexes I felt that it would be interesting to view Courbet through the lens of
his sexuality as well as his artistic development, and place this in the context of his time. I knew that my expertise
was not adequate to write such an essay so, as always, I asked Beverly Brown for sage advice. She directed me to
Michelle Hannoosh who, in turn, furnished me with an introduction to James Rubin. It was then arranged that
James would come especially from Alsace to see the painting. I awaited his visit with some trepidation in order
to learn whether he would greet this small, but delightfully intimate, Mother and Child on a Hammock with the
same enthusiasm with which I accorded the work.After an hour or so chatting and explaining what it was I was
looking to achieve I became aware of Jim’s enthusiastic reaction, both to the painting and to the project at hand.
What a scholarly and fascinating essay resulted! A friend to whom I submitted the formatted text for proof
reading wrote back to me saying, ‘How very astonishing. I could hear Mr. Rubin’s voice clearly throughout. I
shall look at Courbet with new enlightenment henceforth.What a great pleasure, thank you’. I feel the same
way. The text which we publish here brought the artist ‘alive’ to me in a way that I could never before have
considered possible and henceforward I will address Courbet’s paintings through different eyes. Mother and
Child on a Hammock allows us to steal just a glimpse of Courbet’s private domestic life at a time when he may
have been at his happiest and some ten years prior to the final break up of his relationship with Virginie Binet.
The scene is intensely intimate and acts as a precursor to the artist’s somewhat tormented relationship with
the female sex and the demands of his monstrous ego. I suppose that in my foolishly romantic way I somehow
intend this catalogue to be a commemoration of Virginie Binet who disappeared into obscurity.

I here express my appreciation to James H. Rubin for his fascinating essay ‘Courbet in Love and Productive
Disappointment’ and thank both Beverly Brown and Michelle Hannoosh for advice, as well as Jean-Jacques
Fernier, Giuseppe Gavazzeni, Annie Yacob, Colin Bailey and Alan Wintermute, Clare Wadsworth for proof
reading, and Giacomo Algranti and Jeanne Teston for patiently submitting to my eccentricity.

Patrick Matthiesen

Detail from
Mother and Child on a Hammock, c. 1844,

The Matthiesen Gallery, London.

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