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Description
Marcel LENOIR.
"Eucharistic Mystery, White Virgin, Jesus and the Holy Women"
Pastel, signed lower right, circa 1915–1916
Authenticated by the Marcel Lenoir Committee and included in the catalogue raisonné.
Dimensions: 47.5 x 43.5 cm
Indeed, as soon as the work appears on auction sites, we wish to publish our analysis below:
It is a great artistic joy for us to be able to discover, authenticate and include this unique work by Marcel-Lenoir in the catalogue raisonné. It has been restored thanks to Maîtres Jérôme, Paul and Inès de Colonges at Primardeco in Toulouse.
Clearly, in this work, the artist Marcel-Lenoir focuses on the subject of the Eucharistic mystery that follows the blessing after a meal. Furthermore, this work was likely created during the artist’s third period, and more specifically perhaps during the First World War, around 1915–1916. Following his first *Bénédicité* (now in the Vienna Museum of Fine Arts), Marcel-Lenoir once again embarked on a series of *Bénédicité* works, producing both paintings and pastels. And this particular work is thought to be one of the 19 pastels exhibited in Paris in 1916 during the major exhibition dedicated to Marcel-Lenoir, organised by the art dealer Georges Chéron. In the catalogue, alongside the ‘Bénédicité’ works, two other titles also catch our attention: *La Vierge blanche* and *La prière céleste*, titles that evoke the present work. Here, the pastel artist combines—not far from the theme of the blessing—the subject of the Eucharistic mystery with a White Virgin and the Child Jesus, and the prayer of the holy women. We might therefore suggest the title: ‘Eucharistic Mystery, White Virgin, Jesus and the Holy Women’.
It therefore appears that the theologian-pastellist is renewing the iconography of the Eucharistic mystery. Thus, in the background, a blue sky is punctuated on either side of the work’s edges by two voluptuous whitish clouds. This sky signifies the heavenly realm. In the central section, two rounded hedges unfold, with a central opening leading to the garden, which we can surmise lies below the park. The hedges are flanked by flowerbeds and enhanced on either side by various shrubs, including two tall trees standing mirror-like opposite the garden opening, as well as two shrubs—one pruned into a bell shape and the other into a ball— on the left stands a fir or a cypress. The hedge forms a palette of green shades, punctuated with ochre, yellow and orange. Moreover, through this living fence combining various species, the botanical and landscape painter delineates a boundary between the celestial and the earthly realms.
In the foreground, all around the rounded hedges, within a circular, orange-hued, even golden park, stand five groups of people. Close to the opening in the hedges leading into the garden sit two figures: one wearing a pale pinkish-beige dress and the other a white dress adorned with a blue veil; they are engaged in conversation. Then, in the centre of each of the hedges, figures appear, mirrored in position. On the left, a figure of motherhood seems to present herself to us: a Madonna-like mother, entirely clad in grey, kneeling and holding aloft the naked infant Jesus; beside her stands a child dressed in a beige tunic. On the right, a translucent figure appears before us, clad in a grey and green tunic with a green wing; he blends into the greenery and the park, an angel descended from the heavenly realm. Then, emerging from each of the hedges on the left, a mother clad in an ochre drape with blue threads, carrying water, a jug reminiscent of a perfume bottle or ointment pot, and her daughter, wearing a headdress and a matching yellow—or even golden—dress, observe the main scene with curiosity. And the young girl immediately clasps her hands in prayer, thus partaking in the mystery. In contrast, on the right, a mother wearing a grey tunic and her daughter, dressed in sienna, are conversing and do not take part in the central mystery. Moreover, the orange-hued, almost golden park in which all these figures stand, as well as the main scene, remains empty at its centre.
Consequently, the luminous mystery situated at the edge of the work irresistibly draws the eye. Around a rustic wooden table covered with a white tablecloth, the Eucharistic mystery unfolds. The Virgin Mary, with a halo, clad in an immaculate gown, seated and holding the haloed, naked Child Jesus—who stands on the table—with one hand at her side, presides over the scene. And the Madonna and Child face the viewer. With one hand, the Virgin Mary appears to be breaking the bread, the Body of Christ. All around the table, a quartet of young women take part, some in sienna and ochre tunics, others in black and vermilion tunics.
Thus, Marcel-Lenoir gives equal prominence to the holy women and the male apostles, who share in the mystery. Seated on the left are: Saint Mary Salome, wife of Zebedee and mother of the two apostles James the Greater and John the Evangelist, a disciple from Galilee; the Myrrh-bearer, the first witness to the empty tomb; and, to the right of the Virgin Mary, Mary the daughter of James or Mary of Cleophas, mother of James the Less and Joset, a disciple of Jesus from the very beginning, from Galilee to the cross, embodying quiet steadfastness, the bedrock of the anonymous or unassuming faithful, the witness to the cross who, at Golgotha, supported the Virgin as she fainted at the foot of the cross, the embodiment of maternal compassion.
Then, on the right, seated are: perhaps Saint Martha, a native of Bethany, a village near Jerusalem, sister of Mary and Lazarus, a close friend of Jesus, the hospitable one, charity in action, in contrast to her sister Mary who was devoted to the contemplative life, in Provençal legend she remains the tamer of the Tarasque; and, dressed in scarlet red—the colour of divine love, human passion and blood—Mary Magdalene, Mary of Magdala, cured of seven demons by Jesus, the embodiment of redeemed sinful humanity, of carnal and spiritual repentance, who became the Apostle of the Apostles, who before the crucifixion shed her tears of penance upon Jesus’ feet and, during the crucifixion, like Mary, shed her tears, purifying water and cleansed Christ’s bloodied wounds as if in a tearful bath.
Thus, Marcel-Lenoir associates the Myrophores—Mary Magdalene, Mary the daughter of James, Salome—the handmaidens of the living Christ—who arrived at the tomb on Easter Sunday morning with the spices in order to perform a true ritual bath, to wash and anoint the body of Christ, which had been hastily laid to rest, an act of purification and anointing, and who were the first witnesses to his resurrection. They have come to complete this ritual of purification (the Tahara), which could not have been carried out on Friday evening due to the Sabbath. Thus, through his depiction of the holy women, the pastel artist foreshadows the crucifixion and the resurrection. And the virtuoso pastel artist indulges in a crystalline synthesis and cubist composition.
©2026. Text by Marie-Ange Namy
See original version (French)
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About the sale
MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY PAINTINGS
Auction location
Auction time
09/18/2026 at 2:30 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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