31/3/23 - Acquisition and fundraising - Orléans, Musée des Beaux-Arts - This is a very beautiful painting (ill. 1), in which we see the young Bacchus, leaning on a parapet, his head on his hand, staring at the spectator with malice. There is none of Caravaggio’s ambiguity here: the young god, whose features seem to be personified, is a joyful young child delighted with his disguise. A first version painted in 1820 is in a private collection, a little less accomplished and with a different background [1]. This one, presented at the Salon of 1822, was immediately bought by the Duc d’Orléans, future king Louis-Philippe. It was kept at the Palais-Royal during the fire of 1848, but was fortunately saved from the flames, then bought by the artist herself, before being sold to François Marcille, then passing by inheritance into the collection of Eudoxe Marcille, who was director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans between 1870 and 1890.
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- 1. Julie Duvidal de Montferrier (1797-1865)
Bacchus as a child, 1822
Oil on canvas - 61 x 50 cm
Currently being acquired by the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans
Photo : Galerie Talabardon & Gautier - See the image in its page
Doubly linked to the history of Orléans, through Louis-Philippe and the Marcilles, this painting, which belongs to the Galerie Talabardon & Gautier - which presented it at Fine Arts Paris last year - was not part of the recent sales at the Hôtel Drouot, the museum having directly wished to acquire it by mutual agreement. However, as the acquisition committee only met yesterday, 30 March, it could not officially launch a subscription, and it was the Friends of the Musée d’Orléans association that took charge. In three weeks, this appeal for donations has already raised more than two thirds of the sum needed, without the benefit of public appeals or press coverage, the negotiated price being €45,000. The subscription is now open to all and donations (obviously deductible for French tax-payers) can be made from this page. It is also possible to send a cheque made out to the Friends of the Orléans museums, 1 rue Fernand Rabier, 45000 Orléans.
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- 2. François Gérard (1770-1837)
Portrait of Julie Duvidal de Montferrier
Oil on canvas - 47.1 x 38.1 cm
Paris, Maison de Victor Hugo
Photo: Paris Musées (public domain) - See the image in its page
Julie Duvidal de Montferrier, in addition to being a very good painter, as this canvas demonstrates, with the glowing orange background, as if Bacchus were standing in front of a sunset, which gives a romantic atmosphere to this nevertheless very classical subject, was also a personality in literary life. She was the wife of Abel Hugo, Victor’s brother, and therefore the writer’s sister-in-law. She was a pupil of Marie-Hélène Godefroid, another talented woman artist of an era that knew many, and then passed to the studio of François Gérard, who painted her portrait (ill. 2), which is now kept in the Maison de Victor Hugo. Several works by her can be found in this museum, as well as in the Bourg-en-Bresse Museum (Royal Monastery of Brou), which holds a painting representing Saint Clotilde watching over her sick child, which was presented in Montargis in the exhibition on the Salon of 1824 (see article).
The museum’s objective is to allow the entry of this new work, which has a rightful place in the collections of Orléans, solely through popular subscription. It is therefore now possible for everyone to participate in this virtuous operation.