Monday, July 13, 2020

Marcel Brunery: Cardinals and Tablecloths

Marcel Brunery (1893-1982) was a French artist who made many paintings of Roman Catholic Cardinals in casual settings.

His biographical information on the Internet was nearly non-existent as of the time this post was drafted. Here is the most I could find.

What interests me about the paintings shown below is how similar the tablecloths in the various images are. I do not know if there is some liturgical meaning to the designs or whether such tablecloths were simply common at the time Brunery made the paintings. Perhaps they were from his residence and used as props for the settings.

Other commonalities appear below. Brunery had to sell paintings to earn a living, so some recycling of subject matter and even depictions might have been necessary.

Gallery

Afternoon Tea
Note the tablecloth. It, or ones with similar designs appear in all the images below.

An Afternoon Concert
A musical theme.

La sonate
And another. Also note that these paintings feature room decor, many showing areas much above the main subjects.

Testing the New Vintage

Sweet Indulgence
Compare the portrayals to those in "Afternoon Tea," the first image above.

La fĂȘte des cardinaux

The Game of Chess

A Difficult Move
Another chess scene.

A Toast to His Eminence

An Opening Salvo
... of champagne spray.

A Perfect Target
And another.

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