Albert Anker

Anker’s own children often sat as models. He gave preference to his three daughters – Anna Louise (1865–1954), Sophie Marie (1872–1950), and Fanny Cécile (1877–1957). He captured their first smile and first steps, depicting them in a high chair or at the table, sick in bed, doing their homework, or playing with dolls.

Created during the mid-1880s, the blue works on paper reminiscent of watercolor paintings are particularly attractive. The artist employed the famous so-called Deck’sches Blau, a blue that he used for his ceramic paintings, since from 1866 to 1893 Anker was also producing glazed paintings for the ceramic company of Théodore Deck in Paris, which provided him with a reliable income. The unmistakable color was called “Anker blue” in Deck family lore. Spontaneous sketches of this kind also appear repeatedly in his notebooks.

Both portraits depict his younger daughters, the then thirteen-year-old Marie and nine-year-old Cécile, reading at the round dining table. The light from the table lamp illuminates them from the front, so that their bodies cast a shadow on the wall. In contrast, the expression of concentration on the girls’ faces and the books open in front of them are brightly lit and situated centrally. The distinct lighting would seem to not only be serving a practical purpose but could also be regarded as suggesting that reading leads to thinking and therefore enlightenment.