Chestnut Vendor, St. Martin's Market, Pontoise
1881
Medium
Drypoint, with stippling; first state before steelfacing, on yellow/brown laid paper; first state of two
Dimensions
sheet: 17 x 12 5/16 in. (43.2 x 31.3 cm) plate: 7 13/16 x 6 in. (19.9 x 15.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of W. L. Andrews, 1917
Accession Number
17.70.3
Tags
Art Historical Context
Camille Pissarro's *Chestnut Vendor, St. Martin's Market, Pontoise* (1881) offers a vivid glimpse into everyday French provincial life during the Impressionist era. A pioneer of Impressionism, Pissarro often depicted rural scenes and markets near his home in Pontoise, of Paris, where he lived and worked from 1872 to 1884. This intimate print portrays a chestnut vendor amid the bustle of St. Martin's Market blending human figures, market stalls, and surrounding buildings to evoke the warmth and rhythm of community commerce in the late 19th century. Executed in drypoint with stippling on yellow...
About the Artist
Camille Pissarro · 1831–1903
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) stands as the patriarch of Impressionism, the only artist to exhibit in all eight Impressionist exhibitions and a mentor whose influence shaped the trajectory of modern art. Born Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas to a Jewish-Portuguese merchant family, he abandoned the family business to pursue painting, eventually settling in Paris i...