Benjamin perronnet V5 - Flipbook - Page 44
l’expression des angoisses et des remords
de la pécheresse; et s’est ainsi ménagé de
moyen de développer en un sujet grave
tout le charme d’une nature jeune
et gracieuse, sans manquer à la première
des règles de la composition historique,
qui veut que la physionomie et le choix
de nature de chaque personnage soient
en rapport avec son caractère connu.”
Saint Mary of Egypt is said to have lived in the 5th century
AD. A prostitute in Alexandria, she converted to catholicism
at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and consequently
withdrew into the desert of eastern Palestine, where she
spent the rest of her life in solitude. Several years later,
she received communion from a priest named Zosime, who
returned to see her a year later to 昀椀nd her dead. According
to tradition, he tried in vain to bury her until a lion
appeared and helped him dig the grave with its claws.
Towards the end of his life, Greuze depicted the subject of
Saint Mary of Egypt in several paintings and drawings.
A canvas of her with blond hair and a lion at her feet
appeared at the Duclos-Dufresnoy sale in 1795. It is now
lost. In 1800, the artist executed a version of this painting
on behalf of Lucien Bonaparte (1775-1840), who was said
to have taken pity on the painter who had fallen into
poverty. This time, the saint has brown hair and the lion
stands behind her on a promontory. The painting was
exhibited at the 1801 Salon and is now in the Chrysler
Museum of Art in Norfolk.
other, and in the background, which is less elaborate on
the second sheet which also looks a little less 昀椀nished. Their
proximity makes it di昀케cult to identify them precisely with
drawings of this subject from earlier sales. For example,
at the van Sitter sale of May 3-5, 1839 in Paris, lot 121
featured a «Drawing stumped in red and black chalk, 昀椀rst
idea for the painting of the Magdalene, executed lifesize».
At the auction of the 昀椀ne collection formed by Narcisse
Révil from March 29 to April 2, 1842, was described «La
Madeleine: she is naked, praying in a grotto, and kneeling
on a mat, her head in her left hand, and looking into an
open book placed in the corner on the right. Drawing in
black and red pencil, washed in Indian ink. Height 51cm,
width 40cm». Other drawings for the same composition
are documented. One of them, showing only the saint’s
head, executed in red chalk, black chalk and stumping,
has recently reappeared The latter, like the present sheet
and the one sold in 1990, may well be ricordi rather than
preparatory studies, drawn as works of art in their own
right and destined for the market.
Baron Boutard, in the Journal des Débats of January 5,
1805, commented on the picture as follows:
The composition of the present drawing is very similar to
that of the Norfolk painting. The only notable di昀昀erence
is the absence of the lion in the background. Another
drawing, very similar in dimensions (48 x 38.8 cm.) and
executed using the same technique, shows the same
composition as the present sheet. The only di昀昀erences are
in the hair, which is more brown here than blond in the
«The subject of the painting of Saint Mary
of Egypt is basically the same as that of the
Magdalene: however, as this penitent saint is much
less well-known than the Magdalene, and does
not have a traditional physiognomy like her, the
painter could give free rein to his imagination.
Greuze used this freedom to give his Saint Mary
a character of gentle, a昀昀ectionate devotion that
is far more touching in itself, and far more within
the realm of painting, than the expression of the
sinner’s anguish and remorse; and thus provided
himself with a means of developing in a serious
subject all the charm of a youthful, graceful nature,
without failing in the 昀椀rst of the rules of historical
composition, which requires that the physiognomy
and choice of nature of each character be in
keeping with its known character.»
Fig. 1. Jean Baptiste Greuze,
Sainte Marie l’Egyptienne,
Norfolk, Chrysler Museum
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