Artwork
Monsieur Jourdain Receiving His Guests (from Molière's 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme')
Monsieur Jourdain Receiving His Guests (from Molière's 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme') is an oil painting by the British Romanticist artist William Powell Frith. It dates from 1860 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
William Powell Frith’s 1860 oil painting, titled *Monsieur Jourdain Receiving His Guests*, illustrates a moment from Molière’s comedy *Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme*. The work is part of the collection at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and measures the theatrical interaction in a domestic courtyard setting.
Subject & Meaning
The canvas captures Monsieur Jourdain, a self‑styled gentleman, bowing to a lady in white and a gentleman in yellow as part of a staged reception. The lady clasps Jourdain’s hand while a black dog rests at her feet, underscoring the social choreography and pretensions central to Molière’s satire of bourgeois ambition.
Technique & Style
The composition is organized on a stone‑tiled floor that recedes toward a wall with a doorway, while a distant blue sky hints at an outdoor courtyard.
Frith employs a bright palette, contrasting the vivid red of Jourdain’s coat with the soft whites and yellows of the surrounding figures. The composition is organized on a stone‑tiled floor that recedes toward a wall with a doorway, while a distant blue sky hints at an outdoor courtyard. The oil medium allows for fine detail in the costumes and the reflective surfaces of the table and furnishings.
History & Provenance
Completed in 1860, the painting entered the Victoria and Albert Museum’s holdings where it remains on display. Its acquisition reflects the museum’s 19th‑century interest in genre scenes that combine literary reference with contemporary social commentary.
Artist & collection
Artist
William Powell Frith was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era.
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Untitled