Pierre Narcisse Guérin

Studio of the artist, possibly one of the « 3 têtes, études peintes », 10 francs, in the inventory after death;

Ary Scheffer, one of the pupils legatees of the studio;

By whom given to Monsieur Morand, Paris, in 1856;

By descent to his son, Albert Morand, Paris, in 1924;

With Talabardon & Gautier, Paris;

Where acquired by the present owner.

Executed in oil on paper, the technique Guérin preferred for his studies, this tête d’expression was undoubtedly painted from a model, but as far as we are aware it is not repeated in any of his other known compositions. Fierce concentration and tension are expressed in the face with its knitted eyebrows, pursed lips and piercing eyes. The bright light precisely delineates the facial features, so that they stand out against the dark, neutral background. This head may have been suggested by the memory of classical tragedies Guérin had seen: he was a great admirer of Racine, who inspired several of his works, including Phaedra and Hippolytus exhibited at the 1802 Salon (Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. 5182). The intensity of our head is very reminiscent of the playwright’s work.

Guérin produced a number of studies of heads of men and women with the aim of reproducing their expressions. These influenced his young pupils, including Théodore Gericault. He kept their studies in his studio, in case he could use them in large compositions. When he died, Head of a bearded man was left to Ary Scheffer, one of the pupils to whom Guérin bequeathed the contents of the studio.

Heir to Jacques-Louis David, although never one of his pupils, Guérin remained faithful to the precepts of Neoclassicism, with subjects borrowed from history or mythology, and he always respected the primacy of drawing. However, the energy and expressivity of the present Head of a bearded man, together with its contrasting light effects, anticipate Romanticism.