Lot n° 182
Estimation :
8000 - 10000
EUR
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Result
: 16 640EUR
René de Saint-Marceaux (1845-1915)
Portrait... - Lot 182 - Ader
René de Saint-Marceaux (1845-1915)
Portrait of the painter Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891)
Bronze with black patina
Signed and dated "ST MARCEAUX /1879" on the right shoulder
H : 59 cm including black marble pedestal from Belgium H : 13 cm
Provenance :
Offered by the artist to Ernest Meissonier ; by descent ; private collection
Related works :
- René de Saint-Marceaux, Buste de Meissonier, plaster, H. 63 x W. 35 x D. 32 cm, Paris, Petit Palais, musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris, inv. PPS1003 ;
- René de Saint-Marceaux, Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, 1893, marble, Paris, Institut de France, inv. F.N.A.C: 361, 966
Related literature:
- Lucette Turbet, Sculpter l'intime : René de Saint-Marceaux, 1845-1915, Paris, Harmattan, 2020;
- Claire Barbillon, Catherine Chevillot, Stéphane Pacoud, Sculptures du XVIIème au XIXème siècle. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Paris, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Somogy, 2017, p. 314;
- Myriam Chimènes (dir.), Journal : 1894-1927, Marguerite de Saint-Marceaux, Paris, Fayard, 2007;
- Paul Mantz, " Feuilleton du Temps, Salon, VIII ", in Le Temps, 27 June 1880.
"I have not taken advantage of the opportunity you have given me and I see that to make a portrait it is not enough to love and admire the model. If it were so, I would send you a masterpiece". These are the words addressed on June 29, 1880 by René de Saint-Marceaux to the painter Ernest Meissonier, for whom he has just finished this bronze portrait, the only one known to date.
The two artists, who met during the "music salons" hosted by the sculptor's wife, Marguerite de Saint-Marceaux, developed a loyal friendship. This important bronze bust testifies to René de Saint-Marceaux's consideration for his model and friend, the painter Ernest Meissonier, who came from a family of artists and was a student of François Jouffroy. Passionate about 17th century Flemish painting and military history, Ernest Meissonier, who specialized in genre and history painting, also practiced sculpture.
This life-size portrait of Ernest Meissonier is considered to be one of the most emblematic busts of René de Saint-Marceaux, which transcribes the vitality and spirituality of his model. In June 1880, in the daily newspaper Le Temps, Paul Mantz, art historian and art critic, wrote about it "The one of Mr. Meissonier that he exhibits today is a bold and lively bronze. The planes are accentuated with valour, the beard and hair have a spiritual disorder, the intelligent will bursts out in the smallest details." Presented at the Salon of 1880 (under the n°6666) the first bronze bust is drawn from the plaster kept by the Petit Palais (inv. PPS1003). René de Saint-Marceaux then exhibited a second bronze bust of Meissonier, with a variant - more developed shoulders - at the 1889 World's Fair (under n°2139). Finally, at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1893, he presented another copy, in marble, commissioned by the State for the Institute (under n°117). Our work, similar in every way to the original plaster, is most likely the bronze presented at the 1880 Salon and then offered by the artist to his friend.
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