Jean Béraud

Victor Koning, Paris (his sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 27 February 1893, lot 1)
M. Bessonneau
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquired 4 February 1911; sold 29 August 1912)
Walter J. & Augusta Levy (sale: Sotheby's, New York, 10 November 1998, lot 266)
Richard Green, London
Purchased from the above by the present owners in the late 1990s

Paul Hourie, 'Jean Béraud', in L'Estafette, 13 September 1880
Jean des Colines, 'L'Exposition du Cercle des mirlitons', in L'Artiste, 1881, CXIII, vol. I, p. 299
Paul Leroi, 'Expositions', L'Art, 1881, XXIV, p. 264
'Chronique. La préface du Salon', in Le Temps, 9 February 1881, p. 2
 'A l'exposition du Cercle des Mirlitons', in La Vie parisienne, 19 Feburary 1881, p. 110; p. 111, illustrated with a caricature
'Chronique de l'année', in L'Année artistique, 1881-82, p. 160
Patrick Offenstadt, Jean Béraud 1849-1936. The Belle Epoque: A Dream of Times Gone By, Cologne, 1999, p. 20, illustrated; p. 252, no. 331, catalogued & illustrated

The canvas has not been lined. There are a few tiny spots of paint flaking in the blue pigments in the upper left of the sky (visible in the catalogue illustration), and some faint, fine lines of craquelure, notably visible in the dark pigments of some of the suits in the foreground (visible in the illustration) and the sky. Ultraviolet light reveals some very minor, carefully applied thin strokes of retouching addressing craquelure in the dark pigments of the figures, some tiny spots scattered in the sky, and strokes to the extreme edges addressing frame rubbing. Overall this work is in very good condition, and is ready to hang. Held in a decorative gilt Eli Wilner frame with foliate and floral motifs. The catalogue illustration is overall accurate, however the colours are more vibrant in reality, and the sky more detailed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This spirited work, of Bastille Day in 1880, epitomises Jean Béraud’s animated tableaux of Parisian life at the height of the Belle Epoque. Chanting the Marseillaise, workers, artists, students and shopkeepers march from the Place de la Bastille west along the tricolore-draped rue Saint Antoine. First celebrated in 1790, Bastille Day commemorated the storming, on 14 July 1789, of the Bastille fortress by the people of Paris, a key inaugural event of the French Revolution. However, celebrating Bastille Day was suppressed by successive French regimes, including by Napoleon himself and by the restored Bourbon monarchy. To mark the Republic's centenary, in 1879-80 the new liberal leaders of the Third Republic re-established the 14th as a national holiday, and Béraud’s painting coincides with a new patriotic and republican sentiment sweeping across the country after the sombre period of introspection following France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (fig. 1).

La Marseillaise brings together many fascinating details evocative of the period. The front rank of marchers represents the types of people rebuilding France after the war. On the left the older man in the long tan coat is perhaps a syndicaliste or labour leader, flanked by men and boys in the short blue smocks still worn by tradesmen in France today. In the centre are two men in black who, by their unconventional dress, appear to be artists or writers. One wears a red cummerbund instead of a belt, while the other sports a flamboyant pink cravat and a tall hat typical of the dandyism and bohemianism in French art circles in 1880. Between them walks a pregnant woman, representing the future of France. While to the right, three teenagers of differing persuasions – a lycéen with a leftist republican viewpoint, a military cadet with a more moderate-conservative view, and a church student with the Ultra-Catholic party - stride united towards tomorrow.

Jean Béraud’s paintings are today synonymous with the Paris Belle Epoque, so much so that at the turn of the century a scene of Parisian life came to be known as a ‘Béraud’. He adored the city, in all weathers, at any time of day or night, indoors or out, and above all loved its people, whether the aristocracy and upper middle classes, the bourgeoisie, or the workers. A pupil of Léon Bonnat, Béraud’s rigorous draughtsmanship owes something to this academic training, but his choice of subjects was poles apart from those of the Neoclassicists Bouguereau, Clairin and Gleyre. While the latter lived in the past, Béraud’s inspiration was modern metropolitan life, as the author Joris-Karl Huysmans noted: ‘This artist, who began by painting little Ledas like everyone else, soon washed his eyes out, and since then has only depicted what he has seen for himself.’ (J-K. Huysmans, L’Art moderne, Paris, 1903, reprinted in L’Art moderne. Certains, Paris, 1975, p. 55).

Doubtless Béraud’s elegant realism owed something to the new art of photography pioneered by Niépce, Daguerre, and Fox Talbot. But, hungry for verisimilitude, he was in one sense a roving camera himself, making sketches on the spot, like Charles Daubigny from his studio barge. ‘As a result,’ the journalist Paul Hourie commented, ‘Béraud has the strangest life imaginable. He spends all his time in carriages. It is not unusual to see a cab parked at the corner of a street for hours on end, with the artist sitting inside, firing off rapid sketches. That’s Jean Béraud, in search of a scene, drawing a small fragment of Paris. Almost all the cab drivers in the city know him. He’s one of their favourite fares, because he at least doesn’t wear their horses out.’ (Paul Hourie, ‘Jean Béraud', in L’Estafette, 13 September 1880).