The Scarlet Letter By Hugues Merle - 1580 Words

The Scarlet Letter (Figure 1) painted by Hugues Merle in 1861 depicts the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne. Hester Prynne, an adulteress forced to wear the letter â€Å"A† upon her bosom forever, becomes an outcast from the community with her daughter, Pearl. Merle was often known for painting scenes of mothers and children. He illustrates the scene of Hester and Pearl sitting in the town square as part of her punishment. The townspeople walk by, pointing fingers and making shrewd remarks. Merle’s painting, his biography, and other renditions of the novel and painting will be later discussed. Hugues Merle (1823-1881) was a talented French painter during the middle of the nineteenth-century who fit into the impressionist category as he painted â€Å"sweet and tender genre themes† (Schiller Bodo). He was born in Saint-Marcellin and eventually moved to Paris. While in Paris, he became a student of Là ©on Cogniet at the Ecole-des-Beaux-Arts and began to exhibit his work at the Salon in 1847. By 1859, his reputation as a painter of portraits and biblical themes made him popular among American collectors. In 1861 and 1863, he was awarded second-class medals and in 1866, he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Merle painted a range of subjects, including historical anecdotes, allegories, and rural genre scenes such as those of mothers and children. His works were compared to Bouguereau since he painted childhood innocence and maternal affection so well (Schiller