Chocolate Girl: the history of a famous painting. Painting Chocolate Girl - pastel colors in the Dresden Gallery

06.04.2019

La Belle Chocolatière, German Das Schokoladenmädchen listen)) is the most famous painting by the 18th century Swiss artist J. E. Lyotard, depicting a maid carrying hot chocolate on a tray. Made using pastel technique on parchment.

Story

The legend about the creation of this painting is as follows: in 1745, the Austrian aristocrat Prince Dietrichstein entered a Viennese coffee shop to try a new chocolate drink, which was being talked about so much at that time. His waitress turned out to be Anna Baltauf, the daughter of the impoverished nobleman Melchior Baltauf. The prince was captivated by her charm, and, despite the objections of his family, took the girl as his wife. "Chocolate Girl" has become wedding gift for the new princess, commissioned by the newlyweds from the fashionable Swiss artist Lyotard. The portrait artist depicted the bride in an 18th-century waitress costume, immortalizing love at first sight. (This is the version - real story Cinderella - was popularized in Baker company booklets).

According to another version, the future princess's name was Charlotte Balthauf, her father was a Viennese banker and the painting was painted in his house - this is the inscription preserved on a copy of the painting stored in London at the Orleans House Gallery. There is also an option according to which it was not a commissioned portrait, but a painting painted according to at will the artist, struck by the beauty of the girl, from the chambermaid of Empress Maria Theresa, whose name was Balduf and who later became the wife of Joseph Wenzel von Lichtenstein. In any case, the identity of the model has not been definitely established.

From a letter

“I bought a pastel by the famous Lyotard.
It is executed in imperceptible gradations
light and with excellent relief.
The conveyed nature is not at all
changed; being a European work,
pastel made in the spirit of the Chinese...
sworn enemies of the shadow. As for
completion of the work, we can say
in one word: this is Holbein of pastels.
It shows a young woman in profile
German maid girl who
carries a tray with a glass of water and
a cup of chocolate."

After leaving Vienna, Lyotard arrived in Venice, where he sold this pastel to Count Francesco Algarotti, who was filling the collection of Augustus III, King of Poland, and Frederick II of Prussia.

In popular culture

The portrait was exhibited in the Dresden Gallery, where it was seen by Henry L. Pierce, president of an American chocolate trading company, and in 1862 the American company Baker's Chocolate acquired the rights to use the painting, making it the oldest trademark in the United States and one of the oldest in the world. world. Often there is an option to use it in the form of a black and white silhouette. Another copy of the painting is in the Baker Company House Museum in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing the Chocolate Girl (picture)

It looked, I must say, very unpleasant... I had skates with short boots (it was still impossible for us to get high ones at that time) and I saw that my entire leg at the ankle was cut almost to the bone... Others did it too They saw it, and then panic began. The faint-hearted girls almost fainted, because the view, frankly speaking, was creepy. To my surprise, I was not scared and did not cry, although in the first seconds I was almost in shock. Clutching the cut with my hands with all my might, I tried to concentrate and think about something pleasant, which turned out to be very difficult due to the cutting pain in my leg. Blood seeped through the fingers and fell in large drops onto the ice, gradually collecting on it into a small puddle...
Naturally, this could not calm down the already quite nervous guys. Someone ran to call an ambulance, and someone clumsily tried to help me somehow, only complicating an already unpleasant situation for me. Then I tried to concentrate again and thought that the bleeding should stop. And she began to wait patiently. To everyone’s surprise, literally within a minute nothing was leaking through my fingers! I asked our boys to help me get up. Fortunately, my neighbor, Romas, was there, who usually never contradicted me in anything. I asked him to help me get up. He said that if I stood up, the blood would probably “flow like a river” again. I took my hands away from the cut... and what a surprise we were when we saw that the blood was no longer flowing at all! It looked very unusual - the wound was large and open, but almost completely dry.
When the ambulance finally arrived, the doctor who examined me could not understand what had happened and why, with such a deep wound, I was not bleeding. But he also didn’t know that not only was I not bleeding, but I also didn’t feel any pain at all! I saw the wound with my own eyes and, by all the laws of nature, I should have felt wild pain... which, oddly enough, in this case there wasn't at all. They took me to the hospital and prepared to stitch me up.
When I said that I didn’t want anesthesia, the doctor looked at me as if I was quietly crazy and prepared to give me an anesthetic injection. Then I told him that I would scream... This time he looked at me very carefully and, nodding his head, began to stitch it up. It was very strange to watch my flesh being pierced by a long needle, and instead of something very painful and unpleasant, I only felt a slight “mosquito” bite. The doctor watched me all the time and asked several times if I was okay. I answered yes. Then he asked if this always happens to me? I said no, just now.
I don’t know whether he was a very “advanced” doctor for that time, or whether I managed to somehow convince him, but one way or another, he believed me and didn’t ask any more questions. About an hour later I was already at home and happily devoured my grandmother’s warm pies in the kitchen, not feeling full and sincerely surprised by such a wild feeling of hunger, as if I had not eaten for several days. Now, of course, I already understand that it was simply too much loss of energy after my “self-medication”, which urgently needed to be restored, but then, of course, I could not know this yet.
The second case of the same strange self-anesthesia occurred during the operation, which our family doctor, Dana, persuaded us to undergo. As far as I could remember, my mother and I very often had tonsillitis. This happened not only from a cold in winter, but also in summer, when it was very dry and warm outside. As soon as we overheated a little, our sore throat was right there and forced us to lie in bed for a week or two, which my mother and I equally disliked. And so, after consulting, we finally decided to heed the voice of “professional medicine” and remove what so often prevented us from living normally (although, as it later turned out, there was no need to remove it and this, again, was another mistake of our “omniscient » doctors).
The operation was scheduled for one of weekdays when my mother, like everyone else, naturally worked. She and I agreed that first, in the morning, I would go for the operation, and after work she would do it. But my mother firmly promised that she would definitely try to come for at least half an hour before the doctor began to “gut” me. Oddly enough, I didn’t feel fear, but there was some kind of nagging feeling of uncertainty. This was the first operation in my life and I had no idea how it would happen.
From the very morning, like a lion cub in a cage, I walked back and forth along the corridor, waiting for all this to finally begin. Then, as now, what I disliked most was waiting for anything or anyone. And I always preferred the most unpleasant reality to any “fluffy” uncertainty. When I knew what was happening and how, I was ready to fight it or, if necessary, solve something. According to my understanding, there were no unsolvable situations - there were only indecisive or indifferent people. Therefore, even then, in the hospital, I really wanted to get rid of the “trouble” hanging over my head as quickly as possible and know that it was already behind me...
I never liked hospitals. The sight of so many suffering people in one room filled me with real horror. I wanted to, but I couldn’t help them, and at the same time I felt their pain just as strongly (apparently completely “turning on”) as if it were mine. I tried to somehow protect myself from this, but it fell like a real avalanche, leaving not the slightest opportunity to escape from all this pain. I wanted to close my eyes, withdraw into myself and run, without turning around from all this, as far as possible and as quickly as possible...

Jean-Etienne Lyotard, Chocolate Girl, c. 1743-45, Gallery of Old Masters, Dresden

"THE CHOCOLATE GIRL" is one of the famous works of the Swiss artist Jean-Etienne Lyotard. Written in pastel on parchment, full of pictorial skill and poetry, the picture evokes the constant delight of viewers. Among the masterpieces of the Dresden Gallery, it is considered one of the pearls.

The artist was called "the painter of kings and beautiful women"Everything in his life consisted of happy accidents and circumstances that talented artist, gifted also with a practical mind, skillfully took advantage of it.

Jean Etienne Lyotard (1702-1789) was considered one of the most mysterious masters of his time. There are no less legends about his travels and adventures than the works he created, and there were about four hundred of them! Colleagues and influential admirers of his talent called Jean “an artist of truth” - for the photographic accuracy of his images, “a painter of kings and beautiful women” - for his love of sophistication.

The legend about the creation of the painting is as follows:

In 1745, the Austrian aristocrat Prince Dietrichstein entered a Viennese coffee shop to try a new chocolate drink, about which there was so much talk at this time. His waitress turned out to be Anna Baltauf, the daughter of the impoverished nobleman Melchior Baltauf.

The prince was captivated by her charm, and, despite the objections of his family, he took the girl as his wife. “The Chocolate Girl” became a wedding gift for the new princess, ordered by the newlyweds from the fashionable Swiss artist Lyotard. The portrait artist depicted the bride in an 18th-century waitress costume, immortalizing love at first sight.

But there is another version:

According to another version, the future princess's name was Charlotte Balthauf, her father was a Viennese banker and the painting was painted in his house - this is according to the inscription preserved on a copy of the painting stored in London.

Third version:

This was not a commissioned portrait, but a painting painted at the artist’s own request, struck by the beauty of the girl, the chambermaid of Empress Maria Theresa, called Balduf, who later became the wife of Joseph Wenzel von Lichtenstein. In any case, the identity of the model has not been definitely established.

Description of the painting.

The painting depicts only one female figure. But she is depicted in such a way that it captivates the majority of viewers visiting the famous gallery in Dresden. J.-E. Lyotard managed to give the picture the character of a genre scene. In front of the “Chocolate Girl” there is free space, so the impression is that the model is not posing for the artist, but is walking in front of the viewer with small steps, carefully and carefully carrying the tray.

The “Chocolate Girl”’s eyes are modestly lowered, but the consciousness of her attractiveness illuminates her entire gentle and sweet face. Her posture, the position of her head and hands - everything is full of the most natural grace. Her small foot in a gray high-heeled shoe modestly peeks out from under her skirt.

The colors of the “Chocolate Girl” clothes were chosen by J.-E. Lyotard in soft harmony: a silver-gray skirt, a golden bodice, a shining white apron, a transparent white scarf and a fresh silk cap - pink and delicate, like a rose petal... The artist, with his usual precision, does not deviate a single line from the most detailed reproduction of the form the body of the “Chocolate Girl” and her clothes.

So, for example, the thick silk of her dress is quite realistically bristling; The folds of the apron, just taken out of the linen drawer, have not yet straightened out; a glass of water reflects the window, and the line of the upper edge of a small tray is reflected in it.

The painting “The Chocolate Girl” is distinguished by its completeness in every detail, which J.-E constantly strived for. Lyotard. Art critic M. Alpatov believes that “due to all these features, the “Chocolate Girl” can be classified as a miracle of optical illusion in art, like those bunches of grapes in the painting of the famous ancient Greek artist, which sparrows tried to peck.” After the conventions and mannerisms of some 18th-century masters, the almost photographic precision of J.-E. Lyotard came across as a revelation.

The portrait was exhibited in the Dresden Gallery, where it was seen by Henry L. Pierce, president of an American chocolate trading firm, and in 1862 the American company Baker's Chocolate acquired the rights to use the painting, making it the oldest trademark in the United States and one of the oldest in the world. world.

Jean-Etienne Lyotard has always been a supporter of independence - both in life and in art. Rene Losch admits that it was Lyotard’s originality and his incomparable “taste for truth” that attracted her to the artist’s personality and works: “He watched how others worked and... did everything his own way!”

“Painting is a mirror of all the most beautiful things that the Universe offers us” - Jean-Etienne Lyotard.

I really like another work by Lyotard. He has another Chocolate Girl or “Dutch Girl at Breakfast.” Sotheby’s experts valued the painting at 4-6 million pounds (approximately 5.6-8.4 million dollars).

IN lately interest in the artist’s work increased sharply. Thus, in 2009, at the Christie’s London auction, “A Lady in a Turkish Costume with a Maid in a Hamam” was auctioned for $1,064,088, and in 2012, in Paris, “Portrait of Mademoiselle Louise Jacquet” was sold for almost 2 million dollars. Lyotard Portrait of Mademoiselle Louise Jacquet"

“The Chocolate Girl” is a painting by the Swiss artist Jean Etienne Lyotard, the author’s most famous work. Painted in the mid-18th century, it still attracts the attention of visitors to the Dresden Gallery, to whose collection it belongs.

Let's meet the artist

Jean Etienne (1702-1789) is a non-trivial figure. He was known as a “painter of truth,” but not because he sought to capture the injustice of the world or expose those in power. Lyotard loved an accurate depiction of what he saw. His work is often close to photography. Today, such an approach is unlikely to surprise anyone, but at that time, canvases that conveyed reality in an embellished form, full of brilliance and the obligatory charm, were in fashion. Lyotard can be called a rebel, but with happy fate. He was loved strongmen of the world This is why he left for his descendants magnificent portraits of the Marshal of Saxony, Pope Clement XII, and the Empress of Austria. The image of the latter vividly illustrates the author’s non-standard approach for the 18th century: the queen is not painted surrounded by the trappings of power or full of thoughts about the fate of Austria; in the portrait she looks more like a mother worried about her sons and a woman bursting with health.

Jean Etienne was an avid traveler. He visited Moldova and Romania, did not neglect Italy, France, Greece, lived for some time in Turkey and brought from there a love for the East and numerous images of gentle beauties in the background exotic flowers. Just some time after the artist’s return from Constantinople, “The Chocolate Girl” appears, a painting that brought Lyotard worldwide fame.

Attention to detail

The composition of the canvas is quite simple: in full height a girl is depicted with a tray in her hands. This is a chocolate bar. The author of the picture managed to capture the young lady in such a way that it seems as if she is about to move on past the enthusiastic observers. How is this effect created? It's all in the details. Folds of clothing, elements of a cup, and finally, reflection in a glass of water - everything makes the image so realistic that the girl seems alive.

Each element is carefully designed. You can see that the maid’s apron is completely fresh: even the folds have not yet straightened out, apparently it was only recently put on. The artist paid attention to the drawing of both the lace on the cap and on the cup. Creating the illusion of movement is not last role the free space in the direction where the chocolate girl is going also plays. This is exactly what makes Lyotard’s painting captivating: realism and simplicity, not devoid of tenderness.

Light and color

The warmth of the artist’s relationship with the model is always read by the viewer in one way or another. Here it is conveyed using color palette. Delicate pink, white, golden, silver-gray flowing into each other glow from the inside, like the young chocolate maker herself. The picture is painted in pastel, conveying the slightest nuances of shades. Lyotard preferred this type of painting technique to others and was considered a true pastel virtuoso.

The author managed to convey and inner light heroines. She is modest, but in her posture and head position one can read pride and awareness of her own beauty. A simple maid? Regular chocolate maker? The picture allows us to hope that this is not the case.

Legends of all-conquering love

The painter definitely did not paint the girl from his imagination. Despite the fact that Lyotard's main biographer does not agree with this, rumor ascribes a romantic origin to the painting.

Jean Etienne often portrayed beauties, including the chocolate girl. The author of the picture, according to one version, was hired by Prince Liechtenstein (or Duke Dietrichstein) to perpetuate the image of his future wife. The girl's name was supposedly Anna or Charlotte Baldauf. IN different options According to legends, she served with the empress or in a small cafe. Future husband noticed her at the moment when she was carrying a cup of a wonderful and aromatic drink to the royal person or visitors to the establishment. The noble lover, despite the protests of his relatives, proposed to Anna. Having received consent, he turned to the artist with a request to capture his beloved as she appeared before him for the first time. Whether this is true or a myth is now quite difficult to know. However, it is absolutely certain that the subsequent fate of the painting was full of adventure and a certain romanticism.

For the glory of confectioners and on the brink of death

“The Chocolate Girl” was in the collection of the German Elector and ended up in the Dresden Gallery. There in late XIX century, she was noticed by the owner of Baker’s Chocolate. Having admired the painting and being inspired by the legends associated with it, he decided to make it the company logo. The Lyotard chocolate maker can still be found on the packaging of treats produced by the company.

During World War II, it, along with other masterpieces, was taken away from the constantly bombed city and hidden in one of the fortresses. Soviet soldiers found her in a mined basement and saved her from imminent death, returning her back to the gallery.

The painting “Chocolate Girl,” of which there are already thousands of photographs and reproductions, is still in Dresden today. Written more than two centuries ago, it continues to fascinate and inspire.

Swiss artist Jean-Etienne Lyotard considered one of the most mysterious painters XVIII century. No fewer legends about his travels and adventures have survived to this day than exciting stories about his paintings. Lyotard's most famous work is undoubtedly "Chocolate Girl". Associated with this picture interesting legend: according to the testimony of the artist’s contemporaries, here he depicted a waitress who married a prince to whom she once served chocolate in a cafe. But about character and moral qualities very contradictory evidence of this person has been preserved...

In Lyotard’s painting “The Chocolate Lady” we see a modest girl, humbly lowering her gaze, probably in front of a coffee shop visitor to whom she is in a hurry to serve hot chocolate. According to one version, which has been generally accepted for a long time, the artist depicted in this picture Anna Baltauf, a well-bred representative of an impoverished noble family. One day in 1745, Prince Dietrichstein, an Austrian aristocrat, a descendant of a rich ancient family, went into a Viennese coffee shop to try a newfangled chocolate drink. He was so captivated by the sweet girl’s modest charm that he decided to marry her, despite the protests of his family.

Wanting to give his bride an unusual gift, the prince allegedly ordered her portrait from the artist Lyotard. However, this was an unusual portrait - the prince asked to portray the girl in the image in which he met her and fell in love at first sight. According to another version, the artist depicted in the painting the chambermaid of the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, who amazed him with her beauty.

Skeptics argue that in reality everything was much less romantic than in the beautiful legend. And even Anna was not Anna, but the simpleton Nandl Balthauf, who came not from a noble family, but from ordinary family- all her ancestors were servants, and women achieved the blessings of life by often providing special services in the master's beds. It was precisely this fate that the girl and her mother prepared for, insisting that her daughter could not achieve either money or happiness in any other way.

According to this version, the prince first saw the girl not in a cafe, but as a servant in the house of someone he knew. Nandl tried to catch his eye more often and tried in every possible way to attract attention to herself. The plan was a success, and the smart maid soon became the aristocrat's mistress. However, she was not satisfied with the role of “one of”, and she ensured that the prince began to introduce her to his guests and stopped meeting with other mistresses.

And soon the world was shocked by the news: Prince Dietrichstein was marrying a maid! He actually ordered a portrait of the bride from Lyotard, and when he told him about his chosen one, the artist said: “Such women always achieve what they want. And when she achieves it, you will have nowhere to run.” The prince was surprised and asked what Lyotard meant, and he replied: “Everything has its time. The moment will come when you yourself will understand this. I'm afraid, however, that it will be too late." But, apparently, the prince did not understand anything: until the end of his days he lived with his chosen one and died, bequeathing his entire fortune to her. Not a single woman could approach him anymore. And his wife, in her declining years, managed to achieve honor and recognition in the world.

Since 1765, the “Chocolate Girl” was in the Dresden Gallery, and during World War II, the Nazis took this painting along with other gallery exhibits to Königstein Castle above the Elbe, where the collection was later discovered by Soviet troops. How miraculously the precious collection was preserved there, despite the cold and dampness of the basements, art historians are still amazed to this day.

The identity of the model in the portrait has not yet been precisely identified, but Lyotard’s “Chocolate Girl” seems to fascinate everyone who comes to the Dresden Gallery, and is considered one of its best masterpieces. It is noteworthy that Shokoladnitsa became one of the first trademarks in the history of marketing. It is still used as a logo by a chain of coffee shops.

Lyotard also painted portraits of prominent people of his time - for example, the empress in the 18th century.

Jean-Etienne Lyotard. Chocolate Girl, 1745. Fragment | Photo: artchive.ru

Swiss artist Jean-Etienne Lyotard is considered one of the most mysterious painters of the 18th century. No fewer legends about his travels and adventures have survived to this day than exciting stories about his paintings. Lyotard's most famous work is undoubtedly The Chocolate Girl. There is an interesting legend associated with this painting: according to the testimony of the artist’s contemporaries, here he depicted a waitress who married a prince to whom she once served chocolate in a cafe. But very contradictory evidence has been preserved about the character and moral qualities of this person...

Jean-Etienne Lyotard. Self-Portrait (Lyotard the Laughing), 1770. Fragment | Photo: artchive.ru

Skeptics argue that in reality everything was much less romantic than in the beautiful legend. And even Anna was not Anna, but the simpleton Nandl Balthauf, who came not from a noble family, but from an ordinary family - all her ancestors were servants, and women achieved the blessings of life by often providing special services in master's beds. It was precisely this fate that the girl and her mother prepared for, insisting that her daughter could not achieve either money or happiness any other way.

Jean-Etienne Lyotard. Lady with chocolate. Fragment | Photo: artchive.ru