Click on the work of art to enlarge or enhance it
WOMAN ON A BEACH
AND THE PERFECT COMPANION
Charles Sprague Pearce, Reading by the Shore, detail, c. 1883-1885, oil on canvas, Private Collection
Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.
Gustave Flaubert, Letter, 1857
Although born in Boston, American artist Charles Sprague Pearce (1851-1914) spent most of his painting career in France, living in both Paris and in the countryside near the city. French writer Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), often ranked as one of the great figures of literary realism, initially shocked critics and public with Madame Bovary, a novel about the empty existence of a middle class wife.
Full painting
The above image is used solely for educational purposes and in the U.S. public domain.
