Lot n° 188
Estimation :
30000 - 40000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 140 800EUR
Philippe-Auguste HENNEQUIN (Lyon, 1762 -... - Lot 188 - Ader
Philippe-Auguste HENNEQUIN (Lyon, 1762 - Leuze-en-Hainaut, 1833)
Imaginary view of Lyon
Pen, brown ink and grey wash on paper.
Signed lower left: "Phil. Aug. Hennequin".
Number in ink and pen on the reverse in the lower left corner: "174".
(Glued in full on the old mount, vertical fold in the center).
28.7 x 87.2 cm (mount: 35.5 x 93.5 cm)
Provenance:
- Probably Pierre-Nolasque Bergeret (1782-1863), painter; probably his sale, Me Bonnefons de Lavialle, Paris, Hôtel des ventes mobilières, April 27-28, 1846, part of No. 117 ("Two beautiful pen and wash drawings, representing the view of the Rhone quay, in Lyon, and a view of Rome," sold for 9.25 francs to "Duchatel").
- Probably Tanneguy Duchâtel (1803-1867), minister and collector.
- Anonymous sale, Mes Binoche et Giquello, Paris, March 29, 2019, n° 17.
Hennequin entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Lyon in 1774 after having apprenticed in various workshops in the same city. His departure for Paris in 1779 allowed him to join David's studio in the 1780s, but he was expelled for stealing colors. In 1784, he went to Rome where he was in turn expelled by the papal police in 1790, because of dangerous contacts with the sulphurous Cagliostro. From then on Hennequin engaged in intense political activity and moved successively from Lyon to Paris, from Paris to Liège, and from Liège to Tournai where he was appointed director of the Academy in 1821.
Our sheet represents an imaginary panorama of the city of Lyon. It was executed by Hennequin after the Revolutionaries took over the city and razed the rebellious city to the ground. On October 11, 1793, the Convention decreed that Lyon would be renamed "Ville-Affranchie" (Free City) and ordered that a column bearing the infamous inscription "Lyon made war on liberty; Lyon is no more" be erected on the ruins. Hennequin was part of the demolition committee in charge of razing the city. He therefore executed our drawing not only as a view of the mind, but as a possible transformation...
The point of view adopted by the artist is the one he could admire from the window of his apartment, quai des Célestins (J. Hennequin, Un peintre sous la Révolution et le Premier Empire. Mémoires de Philippe-Auguste Hennequin, Paris, 1933, p. 162).
In the foreground on the right is a building that looks like a ruin, the prison of Roanne. This building is adjacent to the old courthouse, a medieval edifice built in the axis of a Roman-style stone bridge, which in the 1790s was a "flying bridge" made up of a chain of twelve boats. The figures are dressed in antique style and their presence contrasts with the Cathedral of St. John, a clearly identifiable Gothic monument, which still stands today in a state close to this one. We can also see the dome of the Carthusian monastery at the right end of our sheet. These buildings were however "romanized", with flat roofs covered with Roman tiles.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue