François Pascal Simon Gérard, called Baron Gérard

Estate of the artist;
His posthumous sale, Paris, rue Saint-Germain-des-Près, N^o 6, 27-30 April 1837, lot 15 ("Corine. Petit Tableau terminé de la figure isolée de la Corine. Délicieuse répétition.");
Acquired by the present owners in 1994. 

The paint surface has been very well preserved with lovely retention of detail and coloration. examination under ultraviolet light reveals just a few very small retouched in landscape in lower right quadrant and some in dark folds of drapery lower left. some along bottom edge. painting is presentable and can be hung as is. Offered in a gilt wood frame with stylized carving at inner corners and inner edge.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Gérard was commissioned to paint Corinne, the heroine of Madame de Stael's 1807 novel of the same name, on quite a few occasions.  No doubt the subject of Corinne, the story of a beautiful and independent poet, written by one of the most famously controversial female authors in French literature at the turn of the 19^th century, would have appealed to the French aristocracy in the Salon society of this period.

The present version depicts Corinne the moment after she relates the stories of the famous Cape Miseno in the Bay of Naples, shown here in the background.  In a moment of great nostalgia and sadness, the poetess, dressed as a muse à l'antique, sits on a ruined column, her eyes averted to the sky.  This Corinne is related in subject matter to the painting described by Melle Godefroid, a pupil of Gérard, who kept detailed notes of his accounts as, Corinne, figure seule et grande comme l'original, faite expres pour Pozzo di Borgo.¹  That painting, commissioned by the French ambassador to Rome, Pozzo di Borgo, apparently never made it to the ambassador, and instead remained in the artist's family collection until sold in 1999 at the Bayeux sale (and later offered Sotheby's New York, 30 January 2014, lot 288).  The "original" that Godefroid refers to above is not in fact the first representation of Corinne by Gérard, but probably a second or third version given by Talleyrand to his niece, the Duchess of Dino, in 1827.  Now lost, that Corinne was formerly in the collection of the Château de Rochecotte, and was removed from there 1837.  Gérard also exhibited a Corinne at the Salon of 1822 and then again in 1824. 

The original commission for Corinne, ordered by Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia, was conceived as a memorial to Madame de Stael, his dear friend, who, after being exiled by Napoleon for what he considered to be her licentious opinions and writings, died in 1817.  The Prince envisioned an idealized portrait of de Stael as her heroine, Corinne.  Upon the advice on Madame Récamier, he wrote to David, whose fee of 40,000 francs and whose concept of painting Corinne Crowned at the Capitol, was rejected by the Prince.  Madame Récamier then recommended Gérard, who agreed to paint Madame de Stael as Corinne for 18,000 francs.  That painting, given by the Prince in 1822 to Madame Récamier in exchange for a portrait of herself by Gérard, is now in the Musée de Lyon, France.

The present version differs from the original in that here, the artist focuses the drama and sadness on the single figure of Corinne.  He has removed the figures of Oswald, Corinne's lover and his friends who, in Madame Récamier's version, stand behind the poet, listening to her in a state of ecstasy.  Instead, he leaves Corinne alone in her despair and sadness against a frightening landscape with the erupting Mount Vesuvius and heavy, brooding skies surrounding her.

We are grateful to Alain Latreille for supporting the attribution to Gérard, based on photographs. 

1. trans: Corinne, one figure and grand as the original, made expressly for Pozzo di Borgo.