Artwork
I Reread Them with Pleasure
I Reread Them with Pleasure is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Marguerite Gérard. It dates from 1795 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1795, this oil painting by French artist Marguerite Gérard captures a quiet domestic scene. A man and a woman share a moment inside a modest interior; the man holds a letter, while the woman watches attentively. The composition is rendered with the delicate touch typical of late Rococo genre works, and the piece now belongs to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Subject & Meaning
The work portrays a couple engaged in a private exchange of written communication.
The work portrays a couple engaged in a private exchange of written communication. The woman, dressed in a gold‑toned gown with a blue ribbon, looks toward the man, who sits at a red table in a yellow vest and gray trousers, reading the letter aloud. The surrounding objects—a blue chair, a hat, a sword—suggest a genteel setting, emphasizing intimacy and the contemplative pleasure of rereading cherished words.
Technique & Style
Gérard employs the soft, pastel palette and fluid brushwork associated with the Rococo tradition, yet her handling shows a restrained realism that hints at the emerging Neoclassical sensibility of the 1790s. Fine attention to texture appears in the fabrics and metal objects, while the balanced arrangement of figures and interior details creates a harmonious, intimate tableau.
History & Provenance
Marguerite Gérard, a pupil of her brother‑in‑law Jean‑Honoré Fragonard, produced the painting during the later phase of her career, focusing on genre scenes of everyday life. After changing hands through private collections, the canvas entered the National Gallery of Art’s holdings, where it is displayed as part of the museum’s representation of French Rococo painting.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Marguerite Gérard (French pronunciation: ; 28 January 1761 in Grasse – 18 May 1837 in Paris) was a French painter and printmaker working in the Rococo style.
Deserved Sorrows
An Interior of the 17th Century
The Messenger
A Musical Company
Conversation Piece (The Sense of Smell)
The Dance
Interior of an Inn, with Figures in Seventeenth-Century Costume
Interior of an Inn, with Figures in Seventeenth-Century Costume
A Writer Trimming his Pen
Presumed Portrait of the Duc de Choiseul and Two Companions
I Reread Them with Pleasure