#MonochromeMonday :
Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps (French, 1803-60)
The Rat Who Withdrew from the World, c.1847
Charcoal w/ stumping & white opaque watercolor on wove paper
on view at Philadelphia Museum of Art
“This drawing illustrates a fable about a rat who chooses to retire from the troubles of the world, taking up residence in a ball of cheese. Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps draws the moment in the tale when deputies of ‘Ratopolis’ visit the recluse in hopes of receiving his assistance in their ‘warfare against the cat.’
Decamps's choice of subject may have been prompted by his own growing sense of disillusionment with the French art establishment. His potential sympathy with a reclusive rodent offers an alternative, if surprising avatar for a French artist of the 1800s.”