Exhibition in Paris galleries: Talabardon & Gautier

27/11/23 - Art market - Paris - In our article at the beginning of the year announcing the Talabardon & Gautier sale at Hôtel Drouot, we expressed the hope that these would bounce back. It did not take long for this wish to be fulfilled. Until 22 December, the exhibition is presenting a new group of remarkable works, only three of which had previously been seen. The gallery owners are thus returning to their catalogues simply entitled "The 19th Century", which they had abandoned in recent years in favour of exhibitions at art fairs.

1. Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835)
Bonaparte, First Consul, Distributing Sabres of Honour to the Grenadiers
of his guard after the battle of Marengo (14 June 1800), c. 1801
Oil on canvas - 42 x 33 cm
Galerie Talabardon & Gautier
Photo: Guillaume Benoit

See the image in its page

We cannot therefore too highly recommend a visit to their gallery on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, as the online catalogue already gives a good idea of the works on display, some of the finest of which we have selected, starting with a sketch by Baron Gros (ill. 1) in preparation for a painting kept at Malmaison, The First Consul on horseback distributing sabres of honour after the battle of Marengo, a commission made in connection with that for David’s Bonaparte crossing the Alps.
This sketch, sent to the Salon, is extraordinarily free in its brushstrokes and clearly surpasses in quality the definitive painting, which is a little later in chronological terms, as Bonaparte is no longer holding out the sabre to the soldier who has already received it. Note that another sketch, closer to the final work but with many differences, belongs to the Wallace Collection.

2. Camille Corot (1796-1875)
Young Shepherd in the Roman Countryside
Oil on canvas - 32,5 x 40,7 cm
Galerie Talabardon & Gautier
Photo: Guillaume Benoit

See the image in its page

Another masterpiece by one of the greatest artists of the nineteenth century,…