Lady with Lyre by Pine Trees 1890

Henri Martin likely painted Lady with Lyre by Pine Trees in France at the turn of the 20th century. Here we see an imagined scene of pastoral leisure, an attractive woman with an instrument of music, the lyre, resting in nature. Martin was deeply rooted in the French academic tradition and he exhibited regularly at the Salon. Yet he was also a contemporary of the Impressionists and this painting shows their influence in its textured surface, created by the application of small strokes of contrasting color. The subject matter suggests the classical world of Greece and Rome, updated to include the contemporary aesthetic of Impressionism. What can we deduce from the choices made by Martin? Perhaps that the art institutions of his time were expanding to embrace more modern styles, but not so far as to reject the traditional themes. Only by accessing resources such as exhibition reviews and sales records can we understand this artwork in its historical context.