New highlights every day from TEFAF Maastricht
Mother and Child on a Hammock
(c. 1844), Gustave Courbet
A gem of a hitherto unpublished early Courbet, this fresh and affectionate familial scene contrasts strikingly with the eroticism of The Hammock and later paintings. Although there is no proof, it would appear to represent the artist’s mistress Virginie Binet, who bore him a son in 1847 but left him in 1852. After her marriage, Courbet wrote that his ‘spirit is sad and soul is empty, the liver and heart devoured by bitterness’.
Unlimited access from just $16 every 3 months
Subscribe to get unlimited and exclusive access to the top art stories, interviews and exhibition reviews.
![Masterpiece [Re]discovery 2022. Photo: Ben Fisher Photography, courtesy of Masterpiece London](http://zephr.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/MPL2022_4263.jpg)
What happens when an artist wants to be anonymous?