Hiding the "louis"
c. 1914/1919
Medium
brush and black ink and black crayon on laid Van Gelder paper
Dimensions
overall: 45.9 x 57.3 cm (18 1/16 x 22 9/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.4132
Art Historical Context
Jean-Louis Forain’s drawing *Hiding the “louis”* captures a fleeting, intimate moment with the artist’s characteristic wit and social insight. Created between 1914 and 1919, during the years of World War I, the work likely comments on the economic anxieties of the period, when ordinary people sometimes concealed gold coins—the famous “louis”—to protect their savings amid uncertainty and inflation. Forain, long celebrated for his sharp observations of Parisian life, uses the scene to hint at both human vulnerability and quiet resilience. Executed in brush and black ink with black crayon on lai...
About the Artist
Jean-Louis Forain
Jean-Louis Forain was born Louis Henri Forain on October 23, 1852, in Reims, France, to a family of modest means; his father painted ornamental signs. The family relocated to Paris when he was eight, where young Forain developed a passion for drawing inspired by the sculptures of Reims Cathedral and the masters at the Louvre, which he began copying at age fourteen. He received drawing lessons from...