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"Study for Family of Saltimbanques" 1905 (20)

“Family of Saltimbanques" 1905 (21)

Poussin's "Finding of Moses" (20G) presents major sources for the figure placement and the separation of the group from the woman. A sheep (?) wrapped in cloth may have been a wolf in disguise or at least a dog in Picasso's early version. The landscape, the racing horse and several heads in the "Study for Family of Saltimbanques" (20) I believe came directly from Poussin's "The Finding of Moses,"(20G). As Picasso's compositions became increasingly more complex with the relating of many figures, he sought help from past masters of group compositions. Picasso became a visual juggler manipulating numerous masterpieces to balance his "Family of Saltimbanques" (21).

The right half of Watteau's "Embarkation for Cythera" (20A) helped in the early stages of composing. The ground plane on which the people stand is like Picasso's study (20). The entourage appears to be leaving the figure of the woman who occupies the extreme right of both groups. This grouping is also like the compact placement of men in El Greco's "Martyrdom of St. Maurice" (20B). Note especially the position of the feet on the ground plane. The most prominent source is Gustave Courbet's "Burial at Ornans" 1849, (20C, 20D, and 20E). Beginning in the upper left area, Picasso created a shorthand version of the rock walls and buildings as seen in (20C). He raised his group of figures to fill in the gap of the valley in (20C). The high horizon compressing the sky area is paralleled by Picasso. See (20E). Another Courbet painting: "Bonjour M. Courbet!" (20F) reinforces this relationship. The placement of the figures on a road which curves to reveal the distant landscape, their erect postures, the angle of the feet touching the plane of the road as they point to the other figures, the dog, and the suggestion of a meeting relating to a journey-- all strongly imply that Courbet played a significant part in the origin of "Family of Saltimbanques" (21).

Picasso's final painting of this subject presents a more closely knit relationship of the entourage, who form the shape of a capital letter "D," while the isolated woman on the right corresponds to Watteau's woman and some of

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