Sage comme un image. Childhood in the eye of the artists 1790-1850

The exhibition currently on display at the Musée de Tessé in Le Mans, before moving on to the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux, is very successful in the choice of works shown and in its museography (ill. 1 and 2). It is true that the paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs depicting children in the first half of the 19th century are sufficiently abundant in French collections, both public and private, to allow a full discussion on this subject without having to exclude certain works. This would have spared us the ridiculous couplet on ecological sobriety... We understand the desire for "financial sobriety", which also makes it possible to restore more works rather than pay for excessively long transport. It is less easy to understand the so-called "ecological restraint" that would require borrowing only from the "greater western half of France" as if transporting David’s Bara from Avignon to Le Mans would accentuate the environmental crisis, especially if we compare this journey with the many that have been made between the Louvre and Liévin. Of course, the exhibition can do without this painting, and avoiding travelling with it for conservation reasons would be understandable. But the excuse put forward here is a bit ridiculous.

Since we are on the subject of the few criticisms we can make of this otherwise highly commendable enterprise, let us also point out the catalogue’s few weaknesses. While many of the works have very interesting detailed descriptions, none of them has a history, their bibliography is extremely limited, and the essays would have benefited from being better documented. We are told about exhibitions and studies that would have dealt…