1752 -1817 · Alsace, Paris and genre painting

Window light, familiar objects and everyday silence made Martin Droelling one of the most delicate interior painters around 1800.

Martin Droelling was born in 1752 in Oberbergheim, near Colmar, and died in Paris in 1817. First trained in Alsace, he moved to the capital in the 1760s and developed a career as a portraitist and genre painter. He carefully observed Dutch painting of the 17th century, notably its ability to give modest interiors a silent depth through light, objects and gestures. Droelling also worked for the Dutch factory of the 17th century, notably his ability to give modest interiors a silent depth through light, objects and gestures. Droelling also worked for the Sèvres factory, where the precision of his drawing and his sense of small format found natural ground. His paintings show kitchens, bedrooms, seamstresses, children, musicians and family scenes. Rather than constructing an anecdote spectacular, he lets the decor tell the story of life: worn tiles, copper, basket, linen, half-open door and ray of sunshine become the actors of the painting. Interior of a kitchen, painted in 1815, exhibited at the Salon of 1817 and acquired the same year for Louis XVIII, constitutes his masterpiece. Two women sew in a large service space while a young boy animates the background. The lateral light slides over the walls, utensils and clothes, transforming ordinary work into a contemplative experience. A wash study kept at the Louvre shows the precise preparation of the composition. Drölling also passes the craft on to his children, including the painter Michel-Martin Droelling, extending a true artistic dynasty. The "Martin Droelling" selection notably compares the interior of a kitchen. His reading favors figures.

Droelling does not seek the event: he makes the light placed on a wall, a basket or a seam the entire story of daily life.