The review
Impressionist & moderne art
Thursday, December 28, 2024 at 2pm30

Sarah Bernhardt: From the Spotlight to the Auction Spotlight


Georges Rochegrosse (1859-1938)
Presumed Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt
Oil on canvas, signed lower left
50 x 61 cm

In 1890, Georges Rochegrosse portrayed Sarah Bernhardt in the role of Cleopatra (private collection) and, at an unknown date, in that of Tosca (formerly in the Toussaint Samat collection, Marseille), while also drawing inspiration from her stage performances for his own compositions. For instance, André Michel observed, in the female figure dramatically raising her arms in La mort de Babylone, “a sort of sorceress who must have taken lessons from Madame Sarah Bernhardt and whose pantomime expresses the most violent astonishment before her” (“Parisian Evening: The Opening of Marigny,” Le Petit Parisien, May 17, 1897).
Some also claimed, like Anatole France, that Sarah Bernhardt herself imitated the sensational paintings of Rochegrosse: “Had she not imagined, last year, staging Andromaque at the Porte Saint-Martin with weapons and tools from the Neolithic era? At least, that is what I’ve been told. She started from the idea that the Trojan War took place in prehistoric times, basing herself on Mr. Schliemann's excavations and drawing inspiration from Mr. Rochegrosse’s painting. It was said that Andromaque was adorned with shell necklaces and tattooed.”
The one her contemporaries nicknamed “The Divine” was also, in all likelihood, deeply admiring of the works Rochegrosse regularly exhibited at the Salon. In 1924, André Salmon indulged in nostalgic memories, recalling that “As a child, I admired Sarah Bernhardt in her Tosca costume, leaning on a tall cane and swooning before Rochegrosse’s submission [to the Salon], which she mistook for the work of her faithful Clairin” (“You Shall Be an Art Lover,” Paris-Soir, April 25, 1924).

The recent exhibition Sarah Bernhardt, And la femme créa la star (Paris, Petit Palais, April 14–August 27, 2023) featured a large canvas, Sarah Bernhardt dans un intérieur chinois (circa 1900, private collection), depicting the actress with her “divine mane of a goddess” (Banville) wearing the embroidered silk Asian robe she favored, both in Paris and at Belle-Île-en-Mer. It also showcased A Japanese Woman in the Studio (Portrait présumé de Sarah Bernhardt) from the 1880s (Paris, Petit Palais).
These two paintings share with our canvas the portrayal of the actress in Asian costume, adorned with her favorite jewelry and surrounded by the chinoiseries she enjoyed, as evidenced by Marie Desiré Bourgoin’s watercolor depicting Sarah Bernhardt’s studio in 1879 (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art) and her famous lacquered and gilded wooden tiger (Japan, Edo period), which she purchased from Siegfried Bing and which is now housed in the Cernuschi Museum (M.C. 2162).
She was forced, albeit regretfully, to part with the latter for financial reasons, according to Edmond de Goncourt’s account. The renowned writer notes in his Journal, dated January 17, 1885, a letter the actress allegedly sent to Cernuschi at the time she was playing the title role in Victorien Sardou’s Théodora: 'I am as poor as my ancestor Job: would you buy my tiger for 3,000 francs, which I paid 6,000 francs for at Bing? ... But I need money immediately ... I am turning to you because my tiger is magnificent and Japanese


DR - Eugène Disdéri (1819-1889)
Sarah Bernhardt en sept poses (detail), 1866

Le Musée départemental Anne-de-Beaujeu de Moulins (Allier) a consacré une importante rétrospective à notre artiste : Georges-Antoine Rochegrosse (1859-1938), les fastes de la décadence (29 juin 2013 - 5 janvier 2014). Les commissaires de l’exposition ont déploré, à cette occasion, que l’artiste n’ait jamais fait l’objet d’une exposition monographique alors qu’il fut l’un des peintres d’histoire les plus célèbres de la Troisième République. Son catalogue entend réparer cette injustice de l’histoire de l’art en éclairant les multiples facettes de l’œuvre et d’un homme au sujet duquel son ami Claude Couturier écrivait : « À vingt-quatre ans il était connu ; à trente-deux ans célèbre ; il est maintenant illustre », trois ans seulement après que Rochegrosse a remporté la médaille d’honneur au Salon des Artistes Français.

For more information or to include a lot in our upcoming sales, contact
Pierre-Alban Vinquant
+33 (0)1 47 45 08 20 - vinquant@aguttes.com