Children Under a Tree

Artist Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879)

Place of OriginFrance

Date19th century

DimensionsPainting: 21 7/8 × 18 1/2 in. (55.6 × 47 cm)
Frame: 30 × 26 × 2 1/2 in. (76.2 × 66 × 6.4 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1936.86

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 33

Label TextThough a prolific painter, Honoré Daumier was best known for his printmaking, specifically his lithographed caricatures and satirical political cartoons. His paintings, however—which brought him almost no recognition during his lifetime—had little of the bite of social satire that characterized his prints. Instead, his paintings frequently portrayed the everyday life of the working people of Paris; or more timeless themes often based on literature. Perhaps an ode to his humble beginnings (his father was a glazier in Marseilles), Children Under a Tree depicts three youths looking attentively at a seated figure who appears to be holding a piece of paper or cloth. This dream-like painting shows Daumier’s great sensitivity to light and color harmony and his simplification of forms. Though he had to continue to make lithographs to pay his bills, Daumier found great admirers of his paintings in modern masters such as Édouard Manet and Claude Monet.Published ReferencesKlossowski, E. Honoré Daumier, 2nd ed., Munich, 1923, nos. 323, 324, repr. p. 132.

Fuchs, E., Der Maler Daumier, Munich, 1930, no. 54a, pl. 54a.

Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 79, June 1937, repr.

Art Digest, XI, September 1, 1937, p. 10, repr.

Art News, XXXV, September 18, 1937, p. 18, repr.

Godwin, Blake-More, Catalogue of European Paintings, Toledo, 1939, p. 172, repr. p. 173.

de Forges, M.-T., Barbizon, Paris, 1963, repr. p. 36.

Maison, K., Honoré Daumier, Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings, New York, 1968, I., no. 11-12, pl. 183, p. 16.

Barzini, L., and G. Mandel, L'opera pittorica completa di Daumier, Milan, 1971, no. 70, repr. (provenance incorrect).

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 47-48, pl. 221.

Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America, New York, 1979, p. 88.

Noack, Dieter and Lilian, The Daumier Register, Accessed: June 22, 2015, Link to resource. Theuveny, Christian and Claude Petit-Castelli, George Viau, un amateur éclairé: 50 ans de collection d'un ami des impressionnistes, Louviers, HB Impression, 2018, p.36, fig. 130 (col.), p. 37.

Exhibition HistoryParis, Ecole des Beaux Arts, Exposition Daumier, 1901, no. 60.

Paris, Ville de Paris (Maison Victor Hugo), Exposition Daumier-Gavarni, 1923, no. 22.

Berlin, Galerie Matthiesen, Honoré Daumier Austellung, 1926, no. 64, repr. p. 99.

Zurich, Kunsthaus, Französische Maler des XIX Jahrhunderts, 1933, no. 42.

Springfield Museum of Art, MA, 19th Century Romantic French Painting, 1939, "The Romantic Revolt," no. 30.

Toledo Museum of Art, Artists Unappreciated in Their Day, 1939, no. 7, repr.

Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 19th Century Painting, no. 8, 1944.

Akron Art Institute, French Painting of the 19th Century, 1947.

Denver Art Museum, Daumier Exhibition, 1948.

Detroit Institute of Arts, French Painting from David to Courbet, 1950, no. 91.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Honoré Daumier, 1958.

London, Tate Gallery, Daumier, Paintings and Drawings, 1961, no. 22, pl. 9b (cat. by K. Maison). (as c. 1850-1854).