39 Gabriel FERRIER (1847-1914) Hope remains invincible. SPES - Lot 39

Lot 39
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15000 - 20000 EUR
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Result : 40 000EUR
39 Gabriel FERRIER (1847-1914) Hope remains invincible. SPES - Lot 39
39 Gabriel FERRIER (1847-1914) Hope remains invincible. SPES INVICTA MANET (1895) Oil on canvas pasted on panel. Signed lower left. 280 x 170 cm (Some accidents, wear and restoration). Provenance: Private collection, Paris Exhibition: Paris, 1895, Salon des Artistes Français, n°727 (packaging label on the back). Bibliography : The engraving was published in the Suppléments des Annales politiques et littéraires (n°693, oct 1896)(ill. 1) Letter from Marianne to Nicolas, 4 october 1896, in-4(ill. 1) Gabriel Ferrier belongs chronologically and aesthetically to a vast family of 19th century artists, variously named the "Academics" (because they followed the teaching of the School of Fine Arts and its masters, then sought the rewards-Prix de Rome, medals at the salons and the coronation, the professorship and election to the Academy), or the "Kitsch Painters" or "Pompiers" (synonymous with theatrical, grandiloquent, bad taste) Numerous recent monographs and exhibitions (Cabanel, Gérome, Baudry, Benjamin-Constant) have placed them within the great history of painting. Mention should also be made of Pierre Sérié's fundamental work, La Peinture d'histoire en France 1860-1900. Among other qualities, their influence on 20th century Hollywood cinema was taken into account. A student of Pils and Hébert, Gabriel Ferrier was awarded the Grand Prix de Rome for painting in 1872. Regular exhibitions and success at the Salon des Artistes français between 1869 and 1913, portraits of personalities from the political world and the stage (Portrait du Duc d'Aumale) ensured his success, crowned by the professorship at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1904 and the Institut in 1906. He obtained various official commissions: the ceilings of the salon of the Orsay train station representing the four seasons (1900), the ceilings of the festival hall of the Paris town hall (1892), the ceilings of the dining room of the Hermitage hotel in Monte Carlo (1899) and the ceiling of the Nîmes theatre, now destroyed. In the field of portraiture, he produced a masterpiece, the Portrait of the Duke of Guise and the Duchess of Magenta, a bold symphony in red. Following a stay in Biskra in 1883, he painted some Algerian scenes. HOPE IS INVINCIBLE. SPES INVICTA MANET (1895) The title given by the artist gives the painting a moral and philosophical meaning. Seated on a monumental Byzantine throne, a dead Love strewn at her feet, a princess adorned with brocade and jewels, turns towards the sky of Hope. It should be noted that, with its precious and orientalist decor, the painting could evoke a Salome, a Cleopatra or an abandoned Dido. Thanks to the title, the painter reverses the melancholic image of the sacrificed princess in favour of a reassuring meaning. The eclecticism of the academic painters and particularly of Gabriel Ferrier - based on a deep knowledge of mannerism and Italian baroque - allows them to slide easily from Allegory to history, biblical or religious painting. The reading of the work is hampered by a thick yellow varnish, a lightening should reserve a spectacular surprise. L'Espoir est Invincible has all the enchantments one expects from a masterpiece exhibited at the Salon (1895): poetic mystery of the subject - let us remember that protest symbolism was in full bloom -, Flaubertian orientalism, proximity of beauty and tragedy, careful execution of enchanting details - mystical expression of the heroine, virtuoso illusionism of the child, the lyre and the garland of roses.
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