Antiques: Fine Art: Item #: MAL-B550304011
Price: $19,000.00 USD
This Mesmerizing Oil on Canvas, "Virgin at the Foot of the Cross ", Paul Delaroche, (French, 1797-1856) is in Excellent Condition. In his study on Delaroche, Norman Ziff notes that the artist “was concerned with the problem of how to create religious paintings which would genuinely excite modern audiences.” On this perplexing matter he wrote to a friend: 'I have a thousand confused thoughts in my head, and not one that I dare execute. If we lived in another time, I would execute a Deposition lifesize, and I would try to prove that I know how to idealize when it comes to Our Lord and his mother; but the general poetic no longer exists. Without becoming complacent, one would not misunderstand public sentiment, if one wishes to appeal to eyes and understanding hearts. I have never prostrated myself before the fashion of the day; but I have always thought that one can produce very serious art in serving the ideas which have preoccupied our society for the last 60 years. I believe that I am as right today as yesterday. One must be a truly great genius to carry the crowd with as much fervor and sympathy before the last goodbyes of the Virgin to her son as before [Marie-Antoinette], martyred yesterday, condemned to death by political passions.”(Louis Ulbach, "Paul Delaroche," Revue de Paris, XXXVI, April 1, 1857, p. 359; quoted by Ziff, pp. 242-43). This specific theme was in fact treated by the artist twice, first in the present painting of 1851, then in a larger canvas of 1853 now in the Musee des Beaux-Arts, Liège. The pose of the Virgin is identical in both works, but in the Liège version (which measures 176 x 130 cm) her entire figure is visible as are the gnarled feet of Christ nailed to the cross. The setting of Golgotha is evident and the intent, it would seem, narrative. By contrast in our picture Christ is present only by implication -- the red trail of blood on the cross -- and the focus is on the intense emotional state of the weeping Virgin.
The present painting achieved some celebrity in the nineteenth century, as witnessed by its reproduction in such diverse forms as KPM porcelain plaques and mosaics.
Norman D. Ziff, Paul Delaroche; A Study in Nineteenth-Century French History Painting. New York-London 1977, p. 299, cat. no. 187
Measuring Framed size is 36 x 28", Canvas Alone is 24 1/2 X 16", Serious Inquiries are Welcome
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Item Location: Allen, TX 75013
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Fine Art: Art, Paintings: virgin At The Foot Of The Cross, Paul Delaroche
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