Maurice Denis

Galerie Druet, Paris (acquired directly from the artist in 1908)
Corporate Collection, Japan
Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 1995

Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Maurice Denis, 1907, no. 22
Krefeld, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Exposition d'art français, 1907, no. 37
Berlin, Schulte, 1907, no. 8 (titled St. Georges)
Paris, Galerie Druet, Maurice Denis, 1908, no. 92
London, Grafton Galleries, Manet and the Post Impressionists, 1910-11, no. 91 (titled Saint Georges)
New York, Armory of the 69th Regiment; Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago & Boston, Copley Hall, International Exhibition of Modern Art, 1913, nos. 314, 88 & 34  (titled Angelica)

The canvas has not been lined. There is some separation and cracking to the paint throughout. The canvas is slightly buckling. Under Uv light, some original pigments fluoresce. There are some areas where the varnish has pooled that also fluoresce, most notably along the top edge. No inpainting is apparent. The work is in overall good condition.
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Maurice Denis was first and foremost a Christian artist, concerned with what he believed was the indisputable link between religion, morality and the act of painting. Rich and multifaceted religious allegories supplied the artist with countless motifs to explore, one of the most important of which was the fight between good and evil. This struggle is explored through several narratives, including St. George and the dragon, the legend of King Arthur, Theseus and the Minatour and, in the present work, Roger and Angélique. Denis frequently painted this theme and it remained of the utmost significance throughout this varied career, as evidenced by the multitude examples in both private and institutional collections (see figs. 1 & 2). 

The perhaps lesser known legend of Roger and Angélique comes from the sixteenth-century epic poem Orlando furioso by l'Arioste. The action of this chivalric romance is set against the background of the war between the Christian king Charlemagne and the Saracen king of Africa, Agramante, who has invaded Europe to avenge the death of his father Traiano. Roger, a knight whose steed is a hippogriff, espies a beautiful woman, Angélique, chained to a rock on the Isle of Tears while riding near Brittany's coast. She has been abducted and stripped naked by barbarians who have left her there as a human sacrifice to a sea monster. Denis captures the moment Roger drives his lance between the monster's eyes and rescues Angélique. Denis succeeds in creating an ethereal setting—what looks like a mythical landscape is actually the pink granite rocks of Ploumanac’h à Perros-Guirec on the northern coast of France. 

This important painting was included in the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art, better known as the Armory Show, alongside Matisse's Blue Nude and Duchamp's Nu descendant un escalier (see fig. 3).