''The Third-Class Carriage'' (French: "Le Wagon de troisième classe") is the name of at least three oil paintings entitled made by the French painter

Honoré Daumier Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808February 10, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the second N ...

. In a realistic manner, Daumier depicts the poverty and fortitude of working class travellers in a third class railway carriage. One oil-on canvas version, dated to but left unfinished, is in the collection of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and a similar but completed painting dated to is in the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. A third oil-on-panel version, dated to , with a different arrangement of the main three figures, is held by the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

Background

Daumier had drawn and painted images of rail travel since the 1840s, focussing on the people travelling rather than the conveyances. His series of lithographs, ''Les Chemins de Fer'' ("the railway") was published in the French magazine ''

Le Charivari ''Le Charivari'' was an illustrated magazine published in Paris, France, from 1832 to 1937. It published caricatures, political cartoons and reviews. After 1835, when the government banned political caricature, ''Le Charivari'' began publishing ...

'' from 1843 to 1858, including prints published in December 1856 with the captions "Voyageurs appréciant de moins en moins les wagons de troisième classe, pendant l'hiver" ("Travellers showing less and less appreciation for travelling in third class in the winter") and "Intérieur d'un wagon de troisième classe pendent l'hiver" ("Interior of a third-class railway carriage in winter"). The paintings relate to Daumier's three watercolors with ink and charcoal, now in the

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

in Baltimore - one for each of the first, second and third class carriages - which were commissioned in 1864 by George A. Lucas for

William Thompson Walters William Thompson Walters (May 23, 1820 – November 22, 1894) was an American businessman and art collector, whose collection formed the basis of the Walters Art Museum. Early life Walters was born on the Juniata River in Liverpool, Pennsy ...

. Three working drawings of the same subject have also survived, perhaps tracings, including one in the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

. It seems two of the oil paintings were worked on concurrently, but the sequence of the paintings is not clear and the one in New York was left unfinished. Daumier was best known as an illustrator, and his paintings remained unknown until an exhibition held by

Paul Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (31 October 1831, Paris – 5 February 1922, Paris) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste ...

in Paris in 1878, the year before Daumier's death.

Description

''The Third-Class Carriage'' evidences Daumier's interest, as also seen in his graphic works, in the lives of working-class Parisians. Third-class railway carriages were cramped, dirty, open compartments with hard wooden benches, filled with those who could not afford second or first-class tickets. The versions in New York and Ottawa are both in oils on canvas, and measure . On the wooden bench seat facing the viewer are seated, from left, a woman nursing her baby, an older woman with her hands clasped atop a basket, and a young boy asleep. The figures may be intended to peasants, influenced by

Jean-François Millet Jean-François Millet (; 4 October 1814 – 20 January 1875) was a French artist and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his paintings of peasant farmers and can be categorized as part of the Realism ...

. Seated behind them are anonymous rows of men and women.

New York version

The painting in New York is dated to but remains unfinished. It is still squared for transfer, possibly from the Walters watercolor or another earlier work, with areas outlined in black. It was owned by the art dealer J. Duz when it was exhibited at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

in Paris in 1888. It was sold to

's gallery in Paris in 1892, and transferred to the New York branch the following year. It was sold in 1896 to M.C.D. Borden, and after his death in 1912 it was sold by his estate in 1913 for US$40,000 and acquired by

Louisine Havemeyer Louisine Waldron Elder Havemeyer (July 28, 1855 – January 6, 1929) was an art collector, feminist, and philanthropist. In addition to being a patron of impressionist art, she was one of the more prominent contributors to the suffrage movem ...

, the wife of H. O. Havemeyer. After her death in 1929, it entered the Met's collection in 1929 as part of the H. O. Havemeyer bequest.

Ottawa version

The version in Ottawa is completed, signed on the baggage to the lower right, and dated to . It was owned by the art dealer Hector Brame when it was shown at the Durand-Ruel exhibition in 1878. It was acquired by the National Gallery of Canada in 1946 from

Gordon Cameron Edwards Gordon Cameron Edwards (12 November 1866 – 2 November 1946) was a Liberal party member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was born in Thurso and became a lumber merchant. The son of John Cameron Edwards and Margaret Cameron, and a ne ...

. There are some small differences: the position of the man with the top hat against the window to the left, and the sleeping boy in the centre-right; the central woman with headscarf appears older in the version in Ottawa, whereas the man with blue headcovering to the far right appears younger in the Ottawa version. The details of the people in the background also differ.

San Francisco version

The third version was acquired by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in 1996, using funds from several bequests. Unlike the versions in New York and Ottawa, the version in San Francisco is oil on panel, and somewhat smaller, measuring . It was thought to have a later date, but the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco dates it . The three principal characters are different from those in the other versions: an elderly woman whose eyes are closed and hands clasped in her lap; a bearded man in a suit holding his hat in his lap; and a young woman looking at the young child standing in front of her.

Related works

File:Honoré Daumier - Impressions et Compressions de voyage.jpg, ''Impressions et Compressions de voyage'', 1853. Lithograph File:Honoré Daumier, Voyageurs appréciant de moins en moins les wagons de troisième classe..., published 1856, NGA 71241.jpg, '' Voyageurs appréciant de moins en moins les wagons de troisième classe, pendant l'hiver'', 1856. Lithograph File:Intérieur d'un wagon de troisième classe..., from Les Agréments des Chemins de Fer, published in Le Charivari, December 13, 1856 MET DP876534.jpg, ''Intérieur d'un wagon de troisième classe pendent lihiver'', from ''Le Charivari'', 13 December 1856 File:HDaumierOmnibus.JPG, ''The Omnibus'', 1864. Crayon and watercolor.

, File:Honoré Daumier - The First Class Carriage - Walters 371225.jpg, ''The First Class Carriage'', watercolor.

, File:Honoré Daumier - The Second Class Carriage - Walters 371224.jpg, ''The Second Class Carriage'', watercolor.

, File:Honoré Daumier - The Third Class Carriage - Walters 371226.jpg, ''The Third Class Carriage'', watercolor.

References

* Oil paintings *
''The Third-Class Carriage''
Metropolitan Museum of Art *
''The Third-Class Carriage''
National Gallery of Canada *
Third-Class Carriage (Un wagon de troisième classe)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco * Watercolors *
The First Class Carriage
Walters Art Museum *
The Second Class Carriage
Walters Art Museum *
The Third Class Carriage
Walters Art Museum
Kleiner, Fred S. ''Gardner's art through the ages: the western perspective'', Cengage Learning, 2010.

In Pursuit of French Masters: the Family of Gordon C. Edwards
National Gallery of Canada, 16 October 2019
FRAME, WORK: Third Class Carriage by Honorè Daumier
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco {{DEFAULTSORT:Third-Class Carriage, The 1864 paintings Paintings by Honoré Daumier Paintings in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Collections of the National Gallery of Canada Unfinished paintings fr:Le Wagon de troisième classe it:Il vagone di terza classe pt:Carruagem de Terceira Classe (Daumier)