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Charles Auguste Émile Durant, known as CAROLUS-DURAN (1837–1…
See original version (French)
594
-
Charles Auguste Émile Durant, known as CAROLUS-DURAN (1837–1…
See original version (French)
Estimate €1,500 - €2,500
Voluntary lot
Description
Charles Auguste Émile Durant, known as CAROLUS-DURAN (1837–1917)
Portrait of Mathieu François Adolphe Mathurin de Lescure, 1870
Oil on canvas
H. 55.7 × W. 45.7 cm
Signed and dated “19 Dec. 70” top left
Inscribed top right “To my friend / Mⁿ de Lescure / A memento
of the Siege”. On the reverse of the canvas, a stamp from Hardy–Alan, dealer in
canvases and fine paints.
Slight damage to the left eye
Canvas needs re-stretching
Carolus‑Duran (or Charles Auguste Émile Durand) was born in 1837. He studied
drawing at the Lille Academy, then painting under François Souchon,
a pupil of Jacques‑Louis David, before settling in Paris in 1853, where he
met Gustave Courbet, Édouard Manet and Henri Fantin-Latour. His
style, initially influenced by Courbet’s realism, subsequently turned towards
the art of Velázquez, whom he discovered during a three-year stay in Spain.
On his return, he opened a studio in Paris and became one of the most sought-after portraitists in Parisian society. Notably, he painted the portrait of Gustave Doré. A sought-after teacher, his pupils included the American John Singer Sargent, who painted his portrait, now in the Clark Art Institute (United States). A co-founder of the Société nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1890, of which he became president in 1900, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1904, and subsequently headed the Académie de France in Rome from 1905 to 1913.
This portrait bears witness to his connection with Mathieu François Adolphe
Mathurin de Lescure, a French writer and historian who, in 1870,
published a book on Mary, Queen of Scots, illustrated with ten engravings by Carolus Duran
engraved by Félix Bracquemond and Paul Adolphe Rajon. This painting also serves as a reminder of the siege of Paris by the Prussians between September 1870 and January 1871. It bears witness to the impact
on the population, and particularly on artists, who were left with lasting scars as a result. The city’s surrender in January 1871 led to the uprising of the Paris Commune.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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