1 / 4
Catalog
Premium Jean-Joseph-Xavier BIDAULD (Carpentras, 1758 - Montmorency, …
See original version (French)
Jean-Joseph-Xavier BIDAULD (Carpentras, 1758 - Montmorency, …
See original version (French)
Lot no. 95
Description
Jean-Joseph-Xavier BIDAULD (Carpentras, 1758 - Montmorency, 1846)
"Bianca Capello; landscape, moonlight
Oil on canvas (Original canvas)
Canvas from the Belot house
Signed and dated 'J.ph Bidauld / 1834 -' lower left
"Bianca Capello ; paysage, clair de lune", oil on canvas, signed and dated, by J.-J.-X. Bidault
25.98 x 36.61 in.
66 x 93 cm
Provenance: Anonymous sale; Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Millon, 9 April 2014, no. 109
Exhibitions: Salon of 1835, Paris, n° 145
A Palace and the city, Stefania Ricci and Riccardo Spinelli (eds.), Florence, Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, Palazzo Spini Feroni, 8 May 2015-3 April 2016, p. 134, repr. p. 132-133
Bibliography: Hilaire Léon Sazerac, Lettres sur le salon de 1835, Paris, 1835, pp. 89-90
F. P., "Salon de 1835", Le Moniteur Universel, 27 April 1835, no. 117, p. 976
Casimir-François-Henri Barjavel, Dictionnaire historique, biographique et bibliographique du département du Vaucluse, Carpentras, 1841, tome I, p. 217
Emile Bellier de la Chavignerie and Louis Auvray, Dictionnaire général des artistes de l'Ecole français, depuis l'origine des arts du dessin jusqu'à nos jours, Paris, 1882, tome I, p. 90
Pierre Sanchez and Xavier Seydoux, Les catalogues des Salons des beaux-arts, Paris, 1999, tome III, p. 34
As he had done with Bayard's Departure for Brescia a few years earlier, Bidauld occasionally tried his hand at subjects drawn from classical or literary history. Here we can clearly feel the influence of the troubadours' works, whose principal representatives he certainly knew. The painting was a real success at the Salon, with critics praising the artist's technique and the richness of his colours. In this work, presented in 1835, he chose to depict an episode in the life of Bianca Capello, a young patrician woman who left with her lover and had a price put on her head by Cardinal Ferdinand de' Medici. A native of Venice and second wife of Francis I de' Medici, she died tragically.
The libretto describes precisely the scene that Bidauld wanted to evoke: "Bianca Capello left Venice stealthily and arrived in Florence by night with her first lover Pietro Bonaventuri, whose head had been put at a price by the Venetian council". The painter chose to place the lovers under a pale moon, accentuating, in a dynamic composition, the dramatic episode of the flight of the two lovers pursued by a horseman emerging on the right of the painting. Framed by tall trees with dark foliage - like the curtains of a theatre stage directing our gaze towards Florence and the banks of the Arno - the composition reveals all of Bidauld's sensitivity: under his fine, precise brushwork, the magic works, even at the heart of a scene that is nonetheless tragic.
We would like to thank Stéphane Rouvet for kindly confirming the authenticity of this work in an email dated 1 October 2025, and for writing this notice.
The hammer price is exclusive of VAT. VAT at the reduced rate of 5.5% applies to the hammer price and the sales commission. This VAT is recoverable for French professionals. It is refundable for a buyer from outside the EU on presentation of proof of export from the EU or for a professional buyer with an intra-Community VAT number and a document proving delivery in the Member State.
The hammer price will be VAT excluded. 5.5% VAT will be added to the hammer price and buyer's premium. Upon request, this VAT can be refunded to the purchaser on presentation of written proof of exportation outside the EU or to the EU purchaser who will submit his intracommunity VAT number and a proof of shipment of his purchase to his EU country home address.
Jean-Joseph-Xavier BIDAULD (Carpentras, 1758 - Montmorency, 1846)
66 x 93 cm
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits:
Contact organization
Delivery methods
You may also like