Lot n° 205
Estimation :
12000 - 15000
EUR
Baron Antoine-Jean GROS (Paris, 1771 - Meudon,... - Lot 205 - Ader
Baron Antoine-Jean GROS (Paris, 1771 - Meudon, 1835)
The Fight of Nazareth, 1801
Pen and brown ink.
Indications of the colors on the sheet.
20,4 x 32,7 cm
Provenance:
- Probably Antoine-Jean Gros's after-death sale, Paris, artist's studio, November 23, 1835-December 1, 1835, No. 101, "Composition pour la bataille de Nazareth" (sold for 405 francs to Debay).
- Probably the former collection of Auguste-Hyacinthe Debay (1804-1865), a student and friend of the artist.
- Anonymous sale, Artcurial, Paris, Hôtel Dassault, November 13, 2018, no. 10, reproduced.
Bibliography:
L. Angelucci, Dessins français du musée du Louvre, Antoine Jean Gros (1771-1835), Paris, 2019, cited p. 231.
Our drawing is a first thought for the sketch entitled Le Combat de Nazareth (The Battle of Nazareth) in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes (INV. 1005). The maelstrom of color and French fury that characterize this sketch were greatly admired by Géricault and Delacroix. In 1801, in order to redress the image tarnished by the loss of life and the final defeat of the Egyptian Campaign, a competition was organized at Bonaparte's request to depict the battle of Nazareth in paint. In 1799, General Bonaparte, who had become master of Egypt in just a few months, decided to attack Syria in order to prevent the hostile intentions of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire who had returned to war against France the previous year. On March 19, Bonaparte laid siege to Saint-Jean-d'Acre. At the head of about four hundred men, General Junot was sent to scout Nazareth, a small town south of Saint-Jean, sheltered from the winds by a mountain. It was there that, on 19 Germinal Year VII (8 April 1799), near Lake Tiberias, one of the most famous battles of the Egyptian campaign took place, pitting Junot's troops against the vanguard of the Ottoman army composed of several thousand men. In just a few hours, the French managed to rout the enemy, who was far more numerous. The sketches of the candidates (nine in number, including Gros, Hennequin, Taunay, Caraffe) were exhibited at the Salon of 1801. Gros represents the general Junot (1771-1813) routing the Turkish army. The jury is also carried away at the end of his saber by General Junot: "The day of the judgement of the competition (...), General Junot was seen arriving, with his saber in his hand, and declared that the prize of the competition should be awarded to the citizen Gros. The jury, very surprised by this new way of judging, was obliged to give in" (Chéry in Le Journal des Bâtiments civils, des Monuments et des Arts, n° 109, Paris, 1801). The final painting was never completed, as Bonaparte ordered Gros to suspend his work and to replace it with an episode to his glory, his visit to the soldiers sick with the plague: Les Pestiférés de Jaffa. Bonaparte was thinking of following in the footsteps of the miracle-working kings. Several drawings prepare the composition of the Combat of Nazareth: a study for the right part of the composition in the Louvre Museum (Inv. 27027), a plan of the composition (Nantes, inv.1005), a sheet of character studies and a sketch of the landscape (Gaston Delestre sale, Artcurial, Paris, Hôtel Dassault, no. 10-11, reproduced), a drawing formerly kept in the Newark Museum (New Jersey), a general pencil drawing (location unknown) and our drawing First thought for the painted sketch, this drawing has the particularity of bearing the indications of colors to be carried over, like this original "café au lait", for the dress of the Ottoman horse behind Junot.
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