Portrait of Louis-Auguste Cezanne, father of the artist FWN398 1865 167.5cm x 114.3
This painting is so huge because it was painted on the wall of the grand entrance hall of the Jas de Bouffan: the owner of the property set between tall and slender female images representing the four seasons, painted in the style of Ingres! I think it portrays Cezanne’s father as he would have liked himself to be portrayed – not bothered to manifest his wealth, rather to show that the creation of wealth takes hard work and application. It is the first of three formal father portrait paintings: Portrait of Louis-Auguste Cezanne, Father of the artist, and Reading L’Evenement. In the third portrait, X-ray reveals that (probably because Zola had some articles published in L’Evenement) Cezanne changed the newspaper from Le Siecle, which was Louis-Auguste’s regular newspaper: it was the voice of the constitutional opposition to the Emperor. For father and son alike, Napoloen III was ‘The Tyrant’. Cezanne’s father was truculently independent, liberal and thoroughly republican (left wing) – a man where the independence of the Aixois was blended with the illustriousness of the new bourgeoisie. There is no decoration in this painting, no sign of wealth, the hand is left like a glove rather than defined with fingers; there is though, concentration in the face, an intensity in the eye, respect in the hatter’s self-made hat, and maybe a smiling strength in the lips. ‘The historian E.P. Thompson famously declared his wish to rescue the Luddite and the obsolete hand-loom weaver from the enormous condescension of posterity - perhaps the rich hatter should be added also’ (Danchev). The portraits of “The Father of the Artist” are amongst Cezanne’s first contemplative works, communing as they do, with the inner strength of this independent man. Louis-Auguste knew his son was intelligent and gifted; he wanted his son to accomplish in life, as he had done; but, as a practical man, he knew that the production of hats was a skill of the past, and the genius of the artist was fairly precarious – hence one of his favourite maxims above. Something like Finance or Law would be a suitable career for his son. But there was no way that the young man was going to finish a law degree, with any decent qualifications! And so, by 1861, with Louis-Auguste heading for his mid-sixties, and the young Paul into his twenties, a career in law was finally put to rest. Louis-Auguste agreed to give Paul an allowance of 125 francs a month to go to Paris and join Zola, who was earning a meagre 100 francs working as a librarian.
It's not time to make a change,
Just relax, take it easy
You're still young, that's not your fault,
There's so much you have to know
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy
I was once like you are now, and I know that it's not easy,
To be calm when you've found something going on
But take your time, think a lot,
Why, think of everything you've got
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not
How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again
It's always been the same, same old story
From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go a way
I know I have to go
Yusuf Cat Stevens