Description
| Year: | 1907 |
| Original size: | 130 cm x 161 cm |
| Painting style: | Naive art (primitivism), post-impressionist period |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Located at: | Musée Picasso, Paris, France |
The Representatives of Foreign Powers – a hand-painted reproduction
The sky is blue, with pale cloud at the right. From the upper left a large dark red awning
edged in gold slopes down over the scene, carried on gilt poles; along its upper edge stands a
row of flags on staffs, in many colours and patterns. Beneath it, on a dark red platform, a
large group of men stands in rows facing out – several in black frock coats with white shirts
and white gloves, several in uniform with gold epaulettes in ochre, dark blue and red, one in
a red robe with a tall dark cap, one bare-chested in a red wrap, two in wide straw hats, one
in a red, white and blue striped robe with a white headdress. Nearly all of them hold a small
green sprig. At the left a figure in a red robe and red cap, with long fair hair, reaches out
an arm and holds a golden sprig above the group; in front of that figure a pale blue
gold-bordered shield carries gold lettering, partly covered by the robe. A tawny lion lies at
the lower left in front of the platform. Dark red steps descend at the centre right. Along the
front edge of the pale paving stand four dark posts, each topped with a green sprig and
lettered in gold. At the right a city square opens: rows of tall buildings hung with flags on
their facades, a monument on a pedestal inside an iron railing with a dark sculptural group at
its base, and many small figures walking – women in red, pink and white dresses, men in dark
coats and straw hats, and children. At the lower right is the signature Henri J. Rousseau with
1907 beneath it.
What is written on the posts
The four posts along the front edge carry gold lettering that is entirely legible at full
resolution: PAIX, TRAVAIL, LIBERTE, FRATERNITE. On the blue shield at the left the lettering
is partly hidden behind the robe; what is visible reads UNIO, then ES, then PEUPLE, then S.
What lies under the robe we do not claim – what we report is what can actually be seen. A
comparable public ceremony, likewise with flags and a crowd, is A Centennial of Independence.
A group we do not name
Several dozen men stand on the platform, each with his own face, dress and bearing. We name
none of them and attach to none of them a country, a rank or an office – the record lists
nobody. Nor do we name any flag: the row along the awning is described by colour and pattern,
because one misread flag would attach a country to a ceremony that the record does not
document. Similarly posed groups, looking straight out of the picture, appear in The Wedding Party and in
Artillerymen.
What it means on the wall
The original measures 130 cm x 161 cm. Because the canvas is full of faces and small
lettering it needs width: at small sizes the gold words on the posts and the figures in the
square collapse into dots, while at a metre and a half every face reads separately. We do not
reproduce canvases at the original measurement; you choose the size for your wall. The
opposite pole from the same hand, a devastation instead of a ceremony, is La Guerre.
How a hand-painted reproduction is made
Every canvas is painted by hand in oils, to order, in the size you choose. The painter
works from a high-resolution photograph of the original, layer by layer, so that the gold
words on the posts, the sprigs in the hands and the flags on the facades stay legible at
smaller sizes too. Because this is hand work, two canvases of the same size always differ
slightly; that is not a fault but the difference between a painting and a print. Prices on
this page start at 155 EUR for the smallest size.
