Enfilade

Louis-Léopold Boilly, Les Malheurs de l’amour (The Sorrows of Love), 1790
(London: The Wallace Collection)

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Opening this month at The Wallace:

Spotlight on Boilly
The Wallace Collection, London, 29 January — 19 May 2019

Curated by Yuriko Jackall

Over the course of his varied artistic career, Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761—1845) witnessed the overthrow of the French monarchy, the revolutionary period, and the rise of Napoleon. Of the fifteen paintings once owned by Sir Richard Wallace, three remain at the Wallace Collection, depicting detailed and humorous scenes of domestic life amongst the Parisian bourgeoisie. Thanks to the generosity of Étienne Bréton and Pascal Zuber, authors of the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Boilly’s oeuvre, the three paintings have undergone extensive restoration and will be welcomed back to the museum with a special display showcasing the renewed vibrancy of their finely jewelled colours and celebrating Boilly’s genius as a chronicler of French society.

Francesca Whitlum-Cooper, From Boudoir to Boulevard: The Revolutionary Art of Boilly
The Wallace Collection, London, 22 February 2019, 18:30

Louis-Léopold Boilly, The Dead Mouse, 1780s or 1790s (London: The Wallace Collection).

Louis-Leopold Boilly lived in extremely turbulent times. Yet, he did not merely survive this violent period: he thrived, painting the faces and places of modern Paris with humour, innovation, and startling modernity. On the eve of the UK’s first exhibition devoted to Boilly at the National Gallery—Boilly: Scenes of Parisian Life, curated Francesca Whitlum-Cooper— and to celebrate the recent conservation of the Wallace Collection’s three Boillys, this lecture by Dr Whitlum-Cooper will introduce Boilly to the public, suggesting that, half a century before the Impressionists, he was one of the first ‘painters of modern life’. The lecture will be prefaced by a brief conversation between Dr Whitlum-Cooper and the Wallace Collection’s Curator of French Paintings, Dr Yuriko Jackall, tracing Boilly’s critical fortunes in the present day. The talk will be followed by a wine reception and book signing with Dr Whitlum-Cooper of her new exhibition catalogue. Booking information is available here.

In addition, Yuriko Jackall will give a talk about the display on 21 February and 27 February, at 13:00.

The third painting by Boilly in the Wallace Collection is The Visit Returned, ca. 1789.