The Movings
Louis-Léopold Boilly·1822
Historical Context
Boilly's The Movings from 1822 depicts the spectacle of Parisian moving day — a recurring moment in French urban life when leases expired and vast numbers of people simultaneously relocated, creating the chaotic street theater of furniture, carts, and displaced families that he captured with his characteristic documentary precision. Boilly was the supreme chronicler of Parisian street life during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods, his small-scale paintings documenting the appearance and behavior of Parisians at work, play, and in transit with the attention of a social scientist and the craft of a skilled genre painter. The Movings was one of his most ambitious compositions, requiring the organization of dozens of figures within a complex urban setting.
Technical Analysis
Boilly's oil on canvas demonstrates his meticulous, almost miniaturist technique with precisely rendered figures, architectural detail, and a bright, clear palette that captures the animated chaos of the street scene.
Provenance
In the possession of Louis-Léopold Boilly; his sale, Paris, April 13–14, 1829, lot 4; sold to James-Alexandre, comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier (died 1855), Paris [Harrisse 1898]; Comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier Sale, Paris, March 21–April 4, 1865, lot 225; sold to Sauvage [see Hippolyte Mireur, Dictionnaire des ventes d'art faites en France et à l'étranger pendant les XVIIIme et XIXme siècles, Paris, 1911-1912]. Comtesse de Gramont d’Aster (1855–1905), Paris by 1898 [according to Harrisse 1898]. Pierre Thomas, comte de Pange (1875–1946), Paris. Private collection in U.S.A. [New York 1982]; Wildenstein and Co., New York, by 1982; sold to the Art Institute, 1982.
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