The circus and its artists have inspired painters for nearly two centuries ... previously, the acrobats and other characters of the Commedia dell'Arte and even before them, fairground entertainers and other hucksters ...

1. The Circus in European paintings
From Itinerant street performers to the circus ...

2. The circus and its artists have inspired painters for nearly two centuries ...
previously, the acrobats and other characters of the Commedia dell'Arte
and
even before them, fairground entertainers and other hucksters ...

3. Before the 19th century ...

4. a street magician entertaining a crowd ...
the conjurer performs a simple trick,
a basket on his belt contains an owl,
a rich merchant looks amazed and spits a frog,
a pickpocket, the magician’s accomplice,
steals the merchant’s purse
the spectators watch spellbound,
eager to understand the tricks of the magician
Hieronymus Bosch, Jérôme Bosch, attribuée à, follower of
The Conjurer
L'escamoteur ou Le bonimenteur
1502
Musée municipal de Saint-German-en-Laye

8. Here, the mountebank waving a vial fascinates until the child.
Behind him is a puppet theatre, a widespread spectacle in Venice
in the 18th century.
In the foreground two noblemen are dressed in masks, in clothes faithful
to the carnival fashion of the time.
Pietro Falca, dit Pietro Longhi
Le Charlatan
The Mountebank
1757
Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice

12. a Roman countryside with its ancient ruins and it characteristic light ...
an Italian comedian troupe occupied to an outdoor burlesque
representation before a picturesque audience
Karel Dujardin
Saltimbanques ou Les charlatans italiens
Italian charlatans in a landscape
1657
Musée du Louvre, Paris

15. Pantalone was one of the first steady characters in the Commedia dell'Arte.
Although being very greedy, is gullible enough for being teased
and taken advantage of from his “servant lovers” or male subordinates:
servants, doctors, captains, whoever can get his precious money out of him.
François Bunel le Jeune, François Bunel the Younger
Les acteurs de la Commedia dell'arte
Actors of the Commedia dell'Arte
16th century
Musée des Beaux Arts de Béziers

18. In the 17th and 18th centuries, these acrobats animate all the popular
festivals.
In Venice, it was Pulcinella, dressed in white with a pointed hat.
Pulcinella is a classical character that originated in the Commedia
dell'arte of the 17th century.
A humpback, a crooked nose, gangly legs, a potbelly, large cheeks,
and a gigantic mouth.
…
This fresco was in the Pulcinella Room of the family villa at Zianigo.
In this scene Tiepolo made Pulcinella both spectator and protagonist
of the "topsy-turvy" world that existed on the Commedia dell'arte
and folk culture.
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo
Pulcinella and the Tumblers or The acrobatic shed
Polichinelle et les acrobates ou La baraque des saltimbanques
1793-1797
Museo del Settecento Veneziano, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice

20. Since the 19th century: the circus …

21. “a glum view of the contrast between the goals of rousing
entertainment in a popular Parisian circus troupe
and the actual melancholy and isolation of the performers.”
…
A row of circus performers on a raised platform …
To the left,
a huge bass drum and three standing young girls and a crying boy,
all in circus costume.
In the middle,
two clowns,
one in a billowing white Pierrot costume with a giant red frog on it,
the other clown in a brown outfit with a hand bell stands between
his feet.
Seated on the stage a rather sad and thoughtful dwarf.
On the right
the seated musicians, sad and tattered.
Fernand Pelez
Grimaces et misères. Les saltimbanques
Grimaces et misère. Les Saltimbanques Grimaces and Misery. The Entertainers
1888
Petit Palais, musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris, Paris

26. the clown with violin and bow in hand ...
the famous John Price virtuoso acrobat and musician,
fixed pose,
dark costume with large embroidered butterflies
and red sleeves and stockings
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Clown au cirque
The Clown
1868
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo

29. Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg,
members of a traveling German acrobatic troupe.
They bow and gather oranges thrown by the audience
as a sign of appreciation.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg)
Jongleuses au cirque Fernando
1879
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

31. One of the most famous circus artists of her time ...
Miss La La caused a sensation when she performed
at the Cirque Fernando in Paris.
The acrobat suspended from the rafters of the circus dome
by a rope clenched between her teeth.
Edgar Degas
Miss Lala au cirque Fernando
Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando
1879
National Gallery, London

34. Two trapeze artists, a clown, ladies and gentlemen ...
The blonde in the pink gown pulls us into the scene with her direct gaze:
fashionable men in silk top hats,
women sitting in the tier above, some even use binoculars to see better,
the acrobat in blue sits on the trapeze,
the acrobat in red - the Duc de la Rochefoucauld - with his red and white shoes,
was said to have “the biceps of Hercules”
and
a clown
James Tissot
La Femme à Paris, Amoureuse du Cirque ou L'amateur de cirque
Women of Paris: The Circus Lover
1885
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

36. 16,8 cm

37. a horse,
a garishly made-up rider, dressed in a tutu of gauze and sequins
and
a whip of a ringmaster …
Fernando’s son Louis is the ringmaster looking
at one of his equestrian performers, who is riding side-saddle
in a skimpy costume.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Au cirque Fernando, L'Écuyère
At the Cirque Fernando, Equestrienne
1888
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

41. five musicians, a conductor
and
free entertainment ...
under the misty glow of nine flickering gas lamps,
a ringmaster and musicians play to a crowd of potential ticket buyers
Georges Seurat
Parade de cirque (Circus Sideshow)
1887-1888
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

44. Two spaces are juxtaposed:
the track and artists, all curves, stylized arabesques and spirals,
dynamic tension
and
the stands and audience, rigid, orthogonal, immobile, of a rigorous
geometry
The scene was captured at the Circus Fernando known better
as Circus Médrano, which was located close to Seurat's studio
at the corner of the Rue des Martyrs and the Boulevard de Rochechouart.
Georges Seurat
Le Cirque
The Circus
1890
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

46. Under the banner of Poverty thirteen children move forward
in a closely-bunched line to the sound of a drum ...
In the center, there is a smiling Pierrot dressed in white with his face
covered in flour. His attitude expresses cheerfulness tinged with irony.
The Vachalcade was a Montmartre festival with processions
and a themed float parade, intended to create an assistance fund
for artists living in poverty. Its name came from a contraction
of the words "vache" and "cavalcade", in reference
to the traditional fat ox festival on the third Thursday in Lent.
Fernand Pelez
La Vachalcade
La Vachalcade (The Cow-valcade)
1896-1900
Petit Palais, musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris, Paris

49. The Picasso's Saltimbanques in a desolate landscape,
a long way from the bright lights of the big top ...
lost in their own thoughts,
the melancholy of artistes
Pablo Picasso
Les Saltimbanques
Family of Saltimbanques
1905
Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

52. a moon which is at once full and crescent,
a flying fish - a traditional Chagallian animal - is throwing a bouquet
of flowers from a hand protruding,
a musical cockerel is playing the bass drum,
a large green horse, the color of love for Chagall
and
an acrobat on her trapeze
Marc Chagall
Le Cirque bleu
The Blue Circus
1950-1952
Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Musée national Marc Chagall, Nice

55. Discharged from the transient brightness of the arena,
the procession of illusionists wanders across the dark field
under a stormy sky …
A pale young violinist with lost eyes and a face like a tragic
mask, looks across at us;
he stares at us steadily, bending his ear toward his girl
companion,
who accompanies his violin tune with the darker tone
of the flute.
A bird-headed figure in clown costume,
carries along a girl singing at the top of her voice.
So the forlorn troupe plays on through the sad,
phosphorescent, moonstruck night.
Marc Chagall
Les saltimbanques dans la nuit
Clowns at Night
1957
Saint-Etienne, musée d'Art Moderne, Dépôt du Centre Pompidou
Musée national d'Art moderne, Paris

58. clowns, izbas,
a bright sun
a red clown applauds the performance of the three acrobats
and
a cow, her paws in the air, as if tempted to imitate them
Marc Chagall
Le cirque. Les arlequins
1944
Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

61. a full moon, with only a crescent visible, floats above a barren tree ...
three male figures in conical hats, set against a bleak landscape,
bent necks, and tilted heads
The details of this picture - the dead tree and the hint of a lunar eclipse - create
a allegory for the descent of Jesus from the cross, and for human salvation
through compassion.
Georges Rouault
Le clown blessé
The Wounded Clown
1932
Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris

64. o.esqsegues@gmail.com
The Circus in European paintings. From Itinerant street performers to the circus ...
Le cirque dans la peinture européenne. Des saltimbanques au cirque …
images and text credit www.
Music The Piano Guys Crescendo Piano & cello
created olga_oes
thanks for watching
Merci M.C., merci Michel