Gustave Moreau

Cordier Collection (house of Koenigswalter, friend of the artist)
Désiré Marchand, by 1906 (sold: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 2-3, 1914, lot 26, illustrated)
M. Delamarre (acquired at the above sale)
Private Collection, Switzerland (circa 1930)

Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Gustave Moreau, 1906, no. 81 (lent by Désiré Marchand)

Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau, sa vie, son oeuvre, Paris, 1976, p. 320, no. 181, illustrated
Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau, Complete edition of the finished paintings, watercolours and drawings, London, 1977, p. 327, no. 181, illustrated
Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau, Monographie et nouveau catalogue de l'oeuvre achevé, Paris-Courbevoie, 1998, p. 341, no. 212, illustrated

The following condition report was kindly provided by Alvarez Fine Art Services, Inc.: This watercolour is in excellent structural condition without tears, punctures or any planar distortions. It is mounted to a thin secondary support 1/4 inch all around its four edges, and the rest of the paper surface is totally loose and not in contact with the support. Though this is not a preferred structural condition, as there is no adhesive on the greater part of the verso, the pigments have maintained their freshness and vibrancy. Overall, this watercolour and gouache on paper is in a very good and stable condition.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Executed circa 1878-80.

Seemingly inspired by the medieval history of Venice, the exact subject of Reître et captives is open to interpretation. Quite possibly the work refers to Venice's long-standing war with Genoa during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The armoured rider wears a variation on the Cross of St. George, the symbol of Genoa, which in this case features a blue field instead of the normal white. He could be a Genoese knight returning home victoriously with Venetian captives at his side. This is an interpretation supported by the flag carried by his entourage which displays the familiar symbol of the city of Venice, although curiously with the colors of the normally golden Lion of St. Mark and the red field reversed. The flag, like the woman prisoner is to be displayed as a spoil of war through the streets of Genoa. As early as 1851, the young Moreau had painted Rape of the Venetians by Cypriot Pirates (Hôtel de Ville, Vichy; Mathieu, 1998, no.10).

Alternatively, this work could have a theme inspired by the Crusades. The captives' exotic costumes could be Levantine suggesting that the rider is a Crusader, the young maidens his trophies from victorious campaigns in the holy land. The Cross of St. George, while possibly referring to the city of Genoa, could also support this interpretation as it was a symbol closely associated with orders of crusading knights. The Venetian flag may allude to the prominent role that city played during the Fourth Crusade specifically, and the Crusading period generally.

Moreau worked up his watercolor from several preparatory drawings now in the Musée Gustave Moreau (Paul Bittler and Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Catalogue des dessins de Gustave Moreau, Paris, 1983, nos. 618, 908, 964, 2002). Inscribed and dated Le Reître - Les captives 1851, one of these, no. 618 in Bittler and Mathieu, reveals not only that the title is Moreau's own, but that, as was often the case with his watercolors, he had conceived the composition long before executing it as a finished product. The present work can be dated to 1878-80 by the style of the signature and by its similarities to other watercolors from the period depicting Renaissance cavaliers (Mathieu, 1998, nos. 209-211).

Reître et captives encapsulates the qualities that distingiush Moreau as one of the greatest watercolorists of the nineteenth century: jewel-like colors akin to cloisonné enamel, delicacy of execution, and minute detail.  Such careful technique was inspired in part by Moreau's keen interest in art and objects from the Middle Ages and Middle East, ranging from Christian, Muslim, and Eastern Orthodox motifs, and geographically from England to Turkey.  In the period of the present work's execution, Moreau frequented Paris' Musée de Cluny, Musée des Arts décoratifs, Cabinet des estampes, and the Département des manuscrits of the Bibliothèque nationale making careful drawings of the insitutions' treasures of jewels, tapestries, costumes and architecture (Marire-Laure de Contenson, "The Middle Ages as Reinvented by Gustave Moreau" in Gustave Moreau, Between Epic and Dream, exh. cat., Chicago, 1999, p. 24-27).