Jean Geoffroy, La goutte de lait, 1903, Petit Palais, Paris

L'Œuvre de la goutte de lait, or L'Œuvre de la goutte de lait au dispensaire de Belleville (The Work of the “drop of milk" at the Belleville dispensary) is a painted triptych by Jean Geoffroy. It was painted in 1901, purchased by the city of Paris from the Salon of 1903 and is currently in the collection of the Petit Palais.[1][2][3] The image was popularised across France through circulation of a postcard version.[4]

Subject

At the end of the 19th century, modern ideas about children’s health began to reach poorer sections of society that had previously benefitted little from medicine. Dispensaries were set up, such as the "Gouttes de lait" (“Drops of milk”), intended to reduce infant mortality in the working class. There babies were regularly weighed, cared for when they fell ill, and issued with pasteurised milk.[1][5]

The left panel shows a newborn baby being weighed shortly after birth; the central panel is full of healthy children and smiling mothers who surround a new mother as she listens carefully to the doctor’s advice about using sterilized milk;[2] the main figure in this panel is fr:Gaston Variot, a pioneer of childcare and colleague of Louis Pasteur. In 1892, he had founded this Belleville dispensary to protect early childhood while ensuring the education of mothers. Doctor Variot, who liked to surround himself with artists, found in Geoffroy a friend who shared his ideals.[1] The right panel shows the young mother receiving her supply of sterilized milk in a bottle.[2][3][5][6]

The triptych form, more commonly used for religious paintings, suggests the saintly character of the work to save children through the modern pediatric medicine. The colour scheme is somber, reflecting the plain clothes of the subjects as well as the austere and hygienic conditions of the dispensary. The general darkness is however interrupted where light falls on the plump flesh of the children and the smiling expressions of the mothers.[3][4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 ""L'Œuvre de la goutte de lait" au dispensaire de Belleville (triptyque)". parismuseescollections.Paris.fr. Paris Musées. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Whitmore, Janet. "BIOGRAPHY - Henri-Jean-Jules Geoffroy (1853 - 1924)". rehs.com. Reh’s Galleries Inc. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 Furtado Arruda Rosemberg, Ana Margerida. "Apreciação Crítica da obra de Jean Geoffroy (1853-1924) La goutte de lait (A gota de leite) (1903)". jornaldomedico.com.br. Jornal do Médico. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  4. 1 2 Ventura, Gal (2018). Maternal Breast-Feeding and Its Substitutes in Nineteenth-Century French Art. Brill. pp. 75–78. ISBN 978-9004376755. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  5. 1 2 "ARTE E MEDICINA: IL TRITTICO DE "LA GOUTTE DE LAIT"". storiadellamedicina.met. Storia della Medicina. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  6. ↑ Thomson, Richard (2004). The Troubled Republic: Visual Culture and Social Debate in France, 1889-1900. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. p. 138. ISBN 0300104650. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
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