26/4/23 - Acquisitions - Montpellier, Musée Fabre - They represent the Fountain of the Three Graces on the Place de la Comédie (ill. 1) and the Fountain of Cybele on the Place Chabanau in Montpellier (ill. 2), two new paintings by Jules Boilly enter the collections of the Musée Fabre. Preempted at the Montpellier auction house on 25 March after being sold for 4,500 and 5,300 euros respectively, they join the corpus of local views already in the museum’s collection.
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- 1. Jules Boilly (1796-1874)
The Fountain of the Three Graces in Montpellier, 1839
Oil on canvas - 33 x 24.5 cm
Montpellier, Musée Fabre
Photo : Hôtel des Ventes de Montpellier - See the image in its page
By Jules Boilly, a Parisian painter and lithographer who remained in the shadow of his famous father Louis-Léopold Boilly - whose first painting recently entered the Montpellier collections (see article) - a series of six drawings and above all a painting showing an almost identical view of the Trois Grâces fountain were already preserved. As Pierre Stépanoff points out [1] - curator of ancient paintings and sculptures at the Musée Fabre, which he will soon leave to take over the museums of Amiens (see the news item of 13/2/23) - in his detailed note, dated the same year 1839, of slightly larger dimensions and a finer and more precise execution, it could be the final work prepared by the recently preempted canvas. The Fountain of Cybele, with the same removed workmanship as the latter, could also be a sketch.
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- 2. Jules Boilly (1796-1874)
The Fountain of the Place Chabaneau, in Montpellier, 1839
Oil on canvas - 33 x 24,5 cm
Montpellier, Musée Fabre
Photo : Hôtel des Ventes de Montpellier - See the image in its page
Still as Pierre Stépanoff indicates, the artist’s presence is attested in Montpellier on two occasions. First in 1831, when he contacted François-Xavier Fabre to sell him paintings, and then in 1839, when he is reported as exhibiting at the "Exposition des produits des arts et de l’industrie" in November. Signed and dated lower right "Jules Boilly / Montpellier 1839", La Fontaine des Trois Grâces was probably painted on this occasion, as was La Fontaine de Cybèle, which is only signed but of exactly the same dimensions. In addition to these paintings, Jules Boilly executed a series of lithographs of Vues pittoresques de Montpellier, published in 1840 and illustrating various places in the city. These include a view of the Fountain of the Three Graces, with variations in the background (ill. 3), as well as a view of the fountain in the Place Chabanau, formerly the Place de l’Intendance and later the Place de la Préfecture (ill. 4). For the latter, he chose another viewpoint showing the façade of the Hôtel de Ganges, which houses the prefecture.
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- 3. Jules Boilly (1796-1874)
The Fountain of the Place de la Comédie, 1840
Lithographiy
Montpellier, Médiathèque Emile-Zola
Photo : Montpellier, Médiathèque Emile-Zola - See the image in its page
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- 4. Jules Boilly (1796-1874)
The Fountain of the Place de la Préfecture, 1840
Lithography
Montpellier, Médiathèque Emile-Zola
Photo : Montpellier, Médiathèque Emile-Zola - See the image in its page
Of undeniable local interest, these two picturesque views bear witness to the physiognomy of the city of Montpellier at the beginning of the 19th century. The view of the Fountain of Cybele in particular depicts a bridge that has now disappeared, linking the Hôtel de Ganges to a building on the left. The sculptures of these two fountains, erected in the 1770s, are the work of the Marseille-born sculptor Étienne d’Antoine for the group of the Three Graces, and of the sculptor Jean Louis Journet for Cybele, the personification of Montpellier. After starting his career in Paris and then in Copenhagen with Jacques Sally, Journet had returned to his native Languedoc.