Lot 334
  • 334

Jean-Léon Gérôme French, 1824-1904

Estimate
80,000 - 120,000 GBP
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Description

  • Jean-Léon Gérôme
  • La Vierge, L'Enfant Jesus et Saint Jean
  • signed and dated J. L. GÉRÔME / 1848 l.l.

  • oil on canvas

  • within a painted arch: 108.5 by 75cm., 42¾ by 29½in.

Provenance

Tedesco Frères, Paris
John Levy Gallery, New York
Sir Charles and Lady Gunning (sale: American Art Association at the Anderson Galleries, New York, 27 April 1933, lot 12)
Plaza Curiosity Shop
Hammer Galleries, New York (by 1966)
Daniel Ivancho, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (by 1966)
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 31 October 1985, lot 46
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 12 October 1994, lot 81 
Purchased by the present owner at the above sale

Exhibited

Paris, Salon de 1848, no. 1933

Literature

Gérôme, oeuvres, Paris, Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale (28 volumes of mounted photographs of Gérôme's paintings and sculptures, the gift of his widow), vol. 27, no. 8
Fanny Field-Hering, Gérôme. His Life and Works, New York, 1892, p. 57
Jean-Léon Gérôme 1824-1904, Peintre, sculpteur et graveur. Ses oeuvres conservées dans les collections françaises publiques et privées, exh. cat., Vesoul, Musée Garret, 1981, p. 111, illustrated
Gerald M. Ackerman, The Life and Work of Jean-Léon Gérôme with a Catalogue raisonné, London, 1986, p. 37, described; p. 186, no. 20, catalogued; pp. 34 and 187, illustrated
Gerald M. Ackerman, Jean-Léon Gérôme. Monographie révisée. Catalogue raisonné mis à jour, Paris, 2000, p. 36, described; p. 214, no. 20, catalogued; pp. 38 and 215, illustrated

Condition

The canvas has been relined. There is a vertical line of retouching (approx. 2cm. long) to the left of the Virgin's right shoulder and a horizontal line of retouching (approx. 2cm. long) to her dress, both corresponding to repairs in the canvas. There are also some strokes of retouching in the Virgin's hair, a small spot on the John the Baptist's hand, a spot on his fur cape and a few further small flecks elsewhere. Apart from some faint craquelure the paint surface is overall in good clean condition.
"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."

Catalogue Note

This remarkably poised composition belies the turbulent times in which it was painted in the months leading up to the June Days and the Proclamation of the Second Republic. Though Gérôme was in Paris throughout the revolutionary days of that year and even captained a unit of the National Guard, his art remained the very opposite of politically loaded. Very late in life he told Fanny Hering that he had had little to do with the affairs of his time, 'except in regard to all that pertained to the Fine Arts'. If anything, the chaos, the terror, and the continual change of regimes may have been the very reason for his retreat into the political neutralism that painting offered him.

In the present work, as Gerald Ackerman notes, 'the Madonna and two children are posed within a slender triangle, with appropriately gracefully bent heads and neatly arranged limbs. In it Gérôme seems to be borrowing from the styles of Overbeck, Delaroche, and Perugino in order to make his own way, around Ingres, to Raphael.' (Ackerman, 1986, p. 37). With its historicising subject matter, sumptuous colours, and sensuous outlines, the painting epitomises the escapist néo-grec classicism championed by Gérôme and his friends Picou and Hamon in the Chalet, the artist's commune they inhabited in the rue de Fleurus.   

Gérôme painted a reduced replica in 1853 (Ackerman, no. 49).