PIERRE PUVIS DE CHAVANNES (1828 - 1894)

 
 
STUDY OF FIGURE'S FROM MASACCIO'S 'RESURRECTION OF THE SON OF THEOPHILUS AND SAINT PETER IN THE PULPIT'
 
 
Bears inscription verso 'Une des premières œuvres de PUVIS de CHAVANNES lors de son voyage en Italie, trouvée dans les papiers de sasuccession et mise dans le lot de Madame DUHAMEL 
['One of the first works by Puvis de Chavannes during his trip to Italy, found in the papers of his estate and placed in the lot of Madame Duhamel']

Gouache over pencil
40.5 x 54 cm
 
 
PROVENANCE
The artist's estate, thence by descent via Mme. Duhamel (the artist's niece)
 
 
 
 
 
This exciting rediscovery, one of the earliest pieces by the artist, dates from his trip to Italy in 1845-46. That journey was the deciding factor in the young man's decision to become an artist, and the frescoes he saw there - by Piero della Francesca (1), Masaccio and Giotto - would be the defining influence on his work for the remainder of his career, such was his inspiration. Our work is therefore a fantastic testament to his intense early study of the Old Masters in Florence (Masaccio's fresco is in Santa Maria del Carmine): a copy after one of the most celebrated frescoes in history by the greatest muralist of the 19th century. 
 
 
 
 
Puvis (he later added the 'de Chavannes') was born in Lyon, and intended to follow his father's profession - he was a mining engineer - until a serious illness forced him to convalesce at Mâcon with his brother and sister-in-law in 1844 and 1845. After his trip to Italy, perhaps taken to restore his health and spirits, he returned and settled in Paris, deciding to become an artist. There, his teachers included Thomas Couture and Eugène Delacroix.
 
 
Although he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salons from the 1860s on, Puvis is best remembered for the monumental canvases he painted for the walls of civic buildings throughout France. He developed a style characterised by simplified, geometric forms, and a palette inspired by the faded colours of the great frescoes of the quattrocento. His subject matter was largely allegorical, often incorporating themes and compositions from antiquity. He is broadly categorised as a Symbolist, though he defied the artistic currents of his time and is instead more important as something of a genesis of subsequent artistic styles, as he had a significant influence on the Modernists of the early 20th century. 
 
 
In 1861, Puvis began an important series of paintings that became part of the decorative scheme (completed 1882) for the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Amiens. Among his other major commissions is a series of panels in the Panthéon, Paris, illustrating the life of St. Geneviève. Begun in 1876, the work was completed by his students after his death. Other important Paris murals are in the Sorbonne (1887–89) and the Hôtel de Ville (completed in 1893). He also painted the staircase of the public library at Boston (1894–98), inspiring a generation of American artists to emulate his grand, classical manner.