PIERRE GOURDAULT (1880-1915)

PIERRE GOURDAULT (1880-1915)
Salammbô and the Doves, 1902
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated '1902' lower right
Oil on canvas, signed and dated '1902' lower right
172,5 x 115,5 cm - 67 7/8 x 45 1/2 in.

Provenance
- Sale, Untitled, Auxerre auction, Auxerre, February 14, 2016, lot 21 (titled La belle égyptienne)
- Acquired during this sale

Exhibition
Salon des Artistes Français, Paris, Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées, 1902, no. 741 (titled Salammbô)

Note
"Tired of her thoughts, she got up, and, dragging her little sandals whose soles clicked on her heels with every step, she wandered at random through the large, silent room. Here and there, the amethysts and topazes on the ceiling shimmered with luminous spots, and Salammbô, as she walked, turned her head a little to see them. She would pick up hanging amphoras by the neck| she would cool her chest under the wide fans, or she would amuse herself by burning cinnamon in hollow beads. At sunset, Taanach would remove the black felt lozenges blocking the openings in the wall| then her doves, rubbed with musk like Tanit's doves, would suddenly enter, and their pink legs would glide over the glass slabs among the barley grains she threw to them in full handfuls, like a sower in a field."
Gustave Flaubert, "Salammbô", Chapter X