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Premium Maître Bruce ROELENS

246 - George DESVALLIERES (1861-1950). "Fourth station: Jesus meet…
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Estimate €2,500 - €3,000
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Description
George DESVALLIERES (1861-1950). "Fourth station: Jesus meets his mother". Large sketch for the Way of the Cross in the Church of Sainte Barbe in Wittenheim. Oil on paper laid down on canvas. Signed upper right. 1930 (Size 148 x 360 cm) (some tears) Referenced in the catalogue raisonné of Catherine Ambroselli - De Bayser, under number CR 2061 (Tome III, page 536) Provenance: artist's family; Seine-Port, private collection, 1955 (by descent) "Comment: This fourth station in the church at Wittenheim, painted on paper and kept by the artist, was later exhibited, although the canvases were now marouflaged in Wittenheim. The painting was exhibited at the Salon des Tuileries in 1939: "Jesus succumbs under the weight of his heavy Cross and meets his mother, who faints at the sight of her Son who has become the man of sorrow atoning for the sins of the world. The tragedy of the Passion is poignantly evoked here". (Charnage) The poignant encounter between Jesus and his mother on the Way of the Cross, which is open to the general public, is striking for exhibition-goers. Louis Vauxcelles speaks of the "unspeakable emotion" it provokes (Vauxcelles, Le Monde illustré, 3 June 1939). (Catherine Ambroselli De-Bayser, "Georges Desvallières - Catalogue raisonné de l'Œuvre complet", Ed. Somogy éditions d'art, Paris, 2015) As a child, Georges Desvallières already demonstrated a talent for drawing. Thanks to his grandfather, the academician Ernest Legouvé, the painter Jules-Elie Delaunay (1828-1891), a friend of the latter, helped to awaken little Georges' talent. The young Desvallières continued his training under Gustave Moreau (1826-1898). Admitted to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1879, he joined Alexandre Cabanel's studio, but only stayed a few months. A close friend of Gustave Moreau, he set up his studio near Moreau's home. He also had a correspondence with Georges Rouault (1871-1958), a pupil of Moreau. From 1883 until 1901, he exhibited at the Salon des artistes français. Born into an unpractising family, he distanced himself from Catholicism before being encouraged, by Huysmans in particular, to return to this spirituality. Against the tide of secularisation that was sweeping civil society at the time, he returned to his Christian faith and painted more and more religious subjects. He took part in the international exhibition of modern Christian art organised at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris by the Société de Saint-Jean (founded for the development of Christian art), and later became its vice-president along with Maurice Denis. He joined the Dominican Third Order and in 1912 published a manifesto in favour of a school of sacred art. During the First World War, Georges Desvallières gave up painting to join the 6th Territorial Battalion of Foot Chasseurs (BTCA). His sons, Richard and Daniel, were both mobilised. Daniel, a student at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, was mowed down by shellfire at the age of 17. During a dangerous mission in enemy territory, Georges Desvallières vowed to devote his painting to God. When he returned unscathed, he fulfilled this vow, abandoning secular subjects for good. He went so far as to combine the Passion of Christ and the sacrifice of the poilu in "Sacré Coeur dans un éclatement" (Sacred Heart in a Burst) in 1920. When the war ended in 1919, he and Maurice Denis opened the ateliers d'art sacré. This school broke with the organisation of the academy and was intended to be a workshop with students, apprentices to the master, as in the Middle Ages, responding to specific commissions. This was the start of the major decorative projects, including our sketch of the Stations of the Cross in the church of Sainte-Barbe in Wittenheim.
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Auction time 06/13/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures modified on 05/29/2026 at 3:30 PM
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