30/3/23 - Acquisition - Paris, Musée d’Orsay - For several years now, the Parisian institution has been striving to expand its Belgian collections, both on the naturalist and neo-impressionist sides: we recall, for example, the drawing by Xavier Mellery purchased at the Maastricht Tefaf in March 2019 (see the news item of 6/7/19) or the masterpiece by George Morren that entered a few months later (see the news item of 5/12/19) while the small collection of works by Léon Frédéric was recently enriched with a painting (see the news item of 19/8/21) and a large charcoal (see the news item of 28/4/22). The Musée d’Orsay was also able to acquire a fascinating drawing (ill. 1) by one of his best pupils, previously absent from its collections and little known outside Belgium: Firmin Baes.
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- 1. Firmin Baes (1874-1943)
Study for The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1896
Graphite on paper - 53 x 70 cm
Paris, Musée d’Orsay
Photo: Lancz Gallery - See the image in its page
This one took pride of place on Patrick Lancz’s stand at the opening of the Salon du Dessin in May 2022 (see article), but was quickly unhooked up after being reserved by the Paris museum officials who immediately recognised its quality. Signed and dated August 1896, the sheet is also dedicated to the artist’s mother and was kept by her descendants until last year. This very accomplished study in graphite prepares the largest known painting (ill. 2) by Firmin Baes, which he composed at the age of twenty-three with a view to being exhibited in 1897 at the Brussels International Exhibition and then to competing for the highly prestigious Godecharle Prize.
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- 2. Firmin Baes (1874-1943)
The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1897
Oil on canvas - 173 x 299 cm
Private collection
Photo: Gillis Goldman Fine Art - See the image in its page
If the artist failed, The Return of the Prodigal Son impressed both amateurs and critics favourably. L’Art Moderne was particularly enthusiastic: "Here he begins at last and his Prodigal Son, a debut work, is a moving and vigorous creation. Obviously, one could reproach it with clumsiness, with tonal dissonance; but the drawing is firm and accurate, the colour suave as well as elegant. And the happy order of the whole as well as the penetrating softness of the emotion make us know in this painting the pleasant presence of a true and human art"
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- 3. Firmin Baes (1874-1943)
The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1897
Oil on canvas - 173 x 299 cm (detail)
Private collection
Photo: Gillis Goldman Fine Art - See the image in its page
Long kept out of sight, The Return of the Prodigal Son reappeared in a January 2016 sale at Skinner in Boston before being included in Gillis Goldman Gallery’s catalogue 24 in June 2021. Taken from the Gospel according to Saint Luke, the parable of the prodigal son was given a Belgian variation, as the biblical scene takes place in a village in the Ardennes, in which it is tempting to recognise Nafraiture, where Léon Frédéric lived. For this first large-scale work, Firmin Baes carefully studied his composition: thanks to Georgette Naegels-Delfosse, his granddaughter, the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels have preserved a small oil painting in which the powerful tree trunks that structure the space can be recognised. The arrangement of the figures changed somewhat, the artist adding a child and positioning his male figure directly on the path in front of the girls (ill. 3).
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- 4. Léon Frédéric (1856-1940)
The Three Sisters, 1896
Oil on canvas - 120.5 x 95 cm
Private collection, on deposit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York since 2015
Photo: Gillis Goldman Fine Art - See the image in its page
The study acquired by the Musée d’Orsay is thus very close to the final canvas, but occupies a significant place in his graphic work, as the institution’s press release wisely pointed out, which also welcomed the consolidation of the representation of Belgian naturalism in French collections. For their part, both the Galerie Lancz and the Galerie Gillis Goldman [1] emphasised the similarity between Firmin Baes’s three girls and The Three Sisters by his master (ill. 4). Long kept in Belgium, in the collection of Maurice and Caroline Verbaet and then at Eric Gillis’, this emblematic painting was then acquired in 2014 by the dealer Jack Kilgore before being long-term loaned at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 2015. One is indeed tempted to recognize the same blond children with curly hair, absorbed in their tasks instead of staring at the viewer, even if they should certainly be exhibited side by side to be sure. In any case, we hope to be able to admire Firmin Baes’ drawing and Léon Frédéric’s charcoal in the Musée d’Orsay in the near future, where they have not yet been presented to visitors.