Associations, inspirations

Whenever one speaks of Manet's Olympia, one speaks of its associations with her predecessors -- the Giorgione, Titian's Venus, Goya's Maja, Ingres' Odalisque . . . 

Edouard Manet, Olympia, 1863

During one of my visits to the Louvre, I discovered a family portrait by Pieter Cornelisz van Slingelandt, a 17th century painter of the Dutch golden age:

Pieter Cornélisz Van Slingelandt. Johannes Meerman, Bourgmestre de Leyde et sa Famille ,1668

I was struck by the image of the family's African servant, standing behind her mistress, handing a letter to her master:

Detail of servant in the Van Slingelandt portrait.

I was struck by how similar this servant looked to Olympia's servant, presenting her with a suitor's bouquet, 

Detail of Manet's Olympia

It's in the way she looks from the corner of her eyes, the right hand's gesturing, working, presenting, being in the background.

The Louvre is strangely a real place where all these associations can be made between the late 19th century generation of painters, Manet, Degas, Cézanne, but to name a few, and the paintings that are shown in the museum itself.  

The Louvre's function as a museum began after the French Revolution in 1793.   There is no doubt that its accessibility played an important part in the formation of artists thereafter.  There is a real dialog between one generation and the other, be it to emulate or otherwise, to express fraternity or difference. 

Of course, Cézanne famously said that he wanted to "redo Poussin after nature."  I think he referenced much more than Poussin during his career.  One has only to compare his famous card players at the Barnes Foundation to Rembrandt's Supper at Emmaus at the Louvre:

Paul Cézanne, The Card Players, 1890-92

Rembrand van Rijn, Supper at Emmaus, 1648

It is enriching, and also surprising, to walk through a museum and discover traces of the past, living on in a sense, from one painter to another, from one painting to another.