ANNE-LOUIS GIRODET-TRIOSON MONTARGIS, 1767 - 1824, PARIS

Lot 68
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Estimation :
20000 - 25000 EUR
ANNE-LOUIS GIRODET-TRIOSON MONTARGIS, 1767 - 1824, PARIS
Academy of a black man holding a dagger preparatory for the Revolt in Cairo (1810, Versailles) Verso, study of fragmentary legs Black pencil and white chalk About 1809 - 1810 45 x 38,5 cm Academy of a black man preparatory for the Revolt in Cairo (1810, Versailles) Verso: study for legs Charcoal heightened with white 17 3/4 x 15 3/16 in BIBLIOGRAPHY Sidonie Lemeux-Fraitot, L'orientalisme, Paris, Citadelles & Mazenod, 1995, p. 123 [ill.]. Study for the Revolt in Cairo (1810, Versailles), this academy of men is a true demonstration of Girodet's mastery of anatomy and, at the same time, an attempt for him to try his hand at an orientalist subject. The young artist entered the studio of Jacques-Louis David (1748 - 1825) in 1785, and came from a family of the Orléans petty gentry. He received a classical education and excelled in Greek and Latin, qualities that were particularly relevant to his master. Thanks to the financial support of Doctor Trioson, a friend of the family whose name he adopted, he continued his artistic studies. An absolute admirer of David, a biographer of the painter reports that he was preparing his palette in front of the Oath of the Horatii (1784, Paris, Musée du Louvre). An atmosphere of emulation, if not rivalry, quickly developed in the studio between François Gérard (1770/1837), Antoine-Jean Gros (1771 - 1835) and Girodet. The first two, in particular, distinguished themselves in the representation of the great Napoleonic battles, infusing the beginnings of Romanticism into the painting of the early years of the 19th century. So, when our painter was commissioned in 1809 to paint the Galerie de Diane at the Palais des Tuileries, he saw the opportunity to associate his name with the imagery of the great Napoleonic legend, while at the same time mixing exoticism with his composition. In its final version, the painting emancipates itself in part from the Davidian aesthetic through its more spontaneous, more dynamic composition. In the study we are offering for sale, however, there is no disorder, no hustle and bustle around this academy, which is in keeping with the legacy of the neoclassical master. Girodet is committed to a perfect rendering of his model's muscular anatomy. Although posed, although frozen, the figure is nonetheless expressive in the power it exudes, the dagger in its hand, suggesting the brutality of the scene that will bring it to life.
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