The Troubadour Style in French Romanticism

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The Troubadour Style in French Romanticism The Troubadour Style in French Romanticism Magnus Olausson Director of Collections Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm Volumes 24–25 Foreword Dr. Susanna Pettersson Director General Associate Professor Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, (An Unpublished Drawing on Panel by Salvator (In the Breach of Decorum: Painting between is published with generous support from the Rosa Depicting a Landscape with a Philosopher Altar and Gallery, Fig. 9, p. 163). Friends of the Nationalmuseum. and Astrological Symbols, Fig. 6, p. 22). © Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY 2.0 © The Capitoline Museums, Rome. Archivio (In the Breach of Decorum: Painting between Nationalmuseum collaborates with Svenska Fotografico dei Musei Capitolini, Roma, Sovrinten- Altar and Gallery, Fig. 13, p. 167). Dagbladet, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, denza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali. © The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Grand Hôtel Stockholm, The Wineagency and (A Drawing for Pietro da Cortona’s Rape of the Sarasota. Bequest of John Ringling, 1936. Nationalmusei Vänner. Sabine Women, Fig. 2, p. 28). (In the Breach of Decorum: Painting between © Bibliothèque Nationale France, Paris. Altar and Gallery, Fig. 19, p. 173). Cover Illustration (The Entry of Queen Christina into Paris in 1656, © Uppsala auktionskammare, Uppsala Étienne Bouhot (1780–1862), View of the Pavillon by François Chauveau, Fig. 2, p. 32). (Acquisitions 2017: Exposé, Fig 4, p. 178). de Bellechasse on rue Saint-Dominique in Paris, © Finnish National Gallery/ Sinebrychoff Art 1823. Oil on canvas, 55.5 x 47 cm. Purchase: the Museum, Helsinki. Photo: Jaakko Lukumaa Graphic Design Hedda and N. D. Qvist Fund. Nationalmuseum, (Self-Portraits and Artists’ Portraits as Portraits of BIGG NM 7434. Friends – A Selection of Paintings and Drawings, Fig. 2, p. 72). Layout Publisher © IKEA. Agneta Bervokk Susanna Pettersson, Director General. (Spika and Tajt – Alternative Furniture for a Young Generation, Fig. 5, p. 88). Translation and Language Editing Editors © Moderna museet, Stockholm Clare Barnes, Gabriella Berggren, and Martin Ludvig Florén, Magnus Olausson and Martin Olin. (Henry B. Goodwin – A Visual Artist with the Naylor. Camera as His Tool, Fig. 2, p. 90). Editorial Committee © The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Digital Publishing Ludvig Florén, Carina Fryklund, Eva Lena image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Ludvig Florén, Magnus Olausson, and Martin Karlsson, Audrey Lebioda, Ingrid Lindell, Program. Olin (Editors) and Ingrid Lindell (Publications Magnus Olausson, Martin Olin, Cilla Robach (Per Krafft the Younger and Belisarius – One of Manager). and Lidia Westerberg Olofsson. the Foremost Swedish Examples of Neoclassical Painting in the French Style, Figs. 3–4, pp. 113–114). Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum is published Photographers © Albert Bonniers Förlag, Stockholm annually and contains articles on the history and Nationalmuseum Photographic Studio/ (Nils Kreuger’s Drafts for the Covers of Bland theory of art relating to the collections of the Linn Ahlgren, Erik Cornelius, Anna Danielsson, Franska Bönder (1889) by August Strindberg and Nationalmuseum. Cecilia Heisser, Per-Åke Persson and Hans Ord och Bild (1897), Fig. 2, p. 137). Thorwid. © Bukowskis auktioner, Stockholm Nationalmuseum (Nils Kreuger’s Drafts for the Covers of Bland Box 16176 Picture Editors Franska Bönder (1889) by August Strindberg and SE–103 24 Stockholm, Sweden Ludvig Florén and Rikard Nordström. Ord och Bild (1897), Fig. 3, p. 138; Acquisitions www.nationalmuseum.se 2017: Exposé, Fig, 3, p. 178). Photo Credits © Pia Ulin. © Nationalmuseum, the authors and the owners of © Le Gallerie degli Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti, Florence. (The Nationalmuseum’s New Restaurant – An the reproduced works. Gabinetto Fotografico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi. Artistic Collaboration, Figs. 1, 2, 4, and 5, pp. 149, (An Unpublished Drawing on Panel by Salvator 150, 152 and 153). ISSN 2001-9238 Rosa Depicting a Landscape with a Philosopher © Wikimedia Commons/ Public Domain and Astrological Symbols, Fig. 3, p. 19). (Per Krafft the Younger and Belisarius – One of © Teylers Museum, Haarlem. the Foremost Swedish Examples of Neoclassical (An Unpublished Drawing on Panel by Salvator Painting in the French Style, Fig 3, p. 112 and ArtRosa Depicting Bulletin a Landscape with a Philosopher of NationalmuseumIn the Breach of Decorum: Painting between Stockholm and Astrological Symbols, Fig. 5, p. 21). Altar and Gallery, Figs. 1–8, 10–12, and 14–18, © The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. pp. 155–172). Photo by Pavel Demidov. © Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY 3.0 Volumes 24–25 Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volumes 24–25, 2017–2018 ACQUISITIONS/THE TROUBADOUR STYLE IN FRENCH ROMANTICISM The Troubadour Style in French Romanticism Magnus Olausson Director of Collections Fig. 1 Jean-Lubin Vauzelle (1776–1837), View from the Cloister of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes in Soissons, c. 1823. Watercolour and chalk on paper, 323 x 417 mm. Purchase: the Hedda and N. D. Qvist Fund. Nationalmuseum, NMH 3/2018. 105 Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volumes 24–25, 2017–2018 ACQUISITIONS/THE TROUBADOUR STYLE IN FRENCH ROMANTICISM Fig. 2 Henri Louis Baup (1766–1855) after Fleury François Richard (1777–1852), Fig. 3 Henri Louis Baup (1766–1855) after Fleury François Richard (1777–1852), Charles VII Writing a Farewell Letter to Agnès Sorel, 1810. Produced by Valentine de Milan, 1810. Produced by Guerhard & Dihl. Enamel on porcelain, Guerhard & Dihl. Enamel on porcelain, 37.5 x 28.5 cm. Purchase: the Wiros 37.5 x 28.5 cm. Purchase: the Wiros Fund. Nationalmuseum, NM 7436. Fund. Nationalmuseum, NM 7437. In 1977, during construction work in the monarchs and their families violated; entire or individual parts of monuments, courtyard of the Hôtel Moreau in the 9th other symbols of royal power and the placing them in an authentic historical arrondissement of Paris, a series of frag- Christian church were also destroyed. setting – the Couvent des Petits-Augustins. ments of medieval sculptures were found. From 1791 on, though, there were One of the artists who diligently recorded Several of them turned out to be the lost moves to save threatened monuments, interiors of this museum in the early Jewish kings that had been removed a driving force in that context being 19th century was Jean-Lubin Vauzelle.3 from Notre-Dame during the French Alexandre Lenoir, an artist and the creator He was also the author of one of the Revolution. They had been ritually decapi- of the Musée des Monuments Français, Nationalmuseum’s recent acquisitions, tated, probably because the revolutionary which opened to the public three years View from the Cloister of Saint-Jean-des- vandals believed them to represent ancient later.2 The museum became a refuge for a Vignes in Soissons (Fig. 1), from around French monarchs.1 This was presumably wide range of sculptural and architectural 1823. The drawing served as a design for at the same time as the royal tombs in the works from the Middle Ages onwards a lithographed illustration included in basilica of Saint-Denis were desecrated that would otherwise have been lost for Baron de Taylor’s major survey of historic in late 1793 and early 1794. Not only were ever. Lenoir skilfully managed to create a monuments in France, Voyages pitto- the human remains of France’s former variety of scenes, known as fabriques, from resques et romantiques dans l’ancienne Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volumes 24–25, 2017–2018 106 ACQUISITIONS/THE TROUBADOUR STYLE IN FRENCH ROMANTICISM Fig. 4 Marie-Philippe Coupin de la Couperie (1773–1851), Raphael Adjusts Fornarina’s Hair before Painting Her Portrait, 1824. Oil on canvas, 106 x 89 cm. Purchase: the Hedda and N. D. Qvist Fund. Nationalmuseum, NM 7498. 107 Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volumes 24–25, 2017–2018 ACQUISITIONS/THE TROUBADOUR STYLE IN FRENCH ROMANTICISM France (1820–63).4 This ambitious order appears to have been placed at the and lover hung at the Duchess of Ragusa’s publication was one in a series of literary time of her divorce from the emperor in chateau of Viry-Châtillon, where, inciden- works, buildings, and works of visual and 1810. At the manufactory, the artist Henri tally, she had a Neo-Gothic garden pavilion decorative art that turned the spotlight on Louis Baup painted a copy of Fleury- built, fitted out in the same style. France’s medieval heritage. Interest in the François Richard’s work on a large Another of the more celebrated French Middle Ages did not begin, though, porcelain plaque, probably in preparation Troubadour painters was Jean-Antoine with the sense of loss arising from the for the large service. At the same time, Laurent (1763–1832), who also included complete or partial destruction of historic Baup made a copy of Richard’s companion the Empress Joséphine among his patrons. monuments in the wake of the French piece, Charles VII Writing a Farewell His Richard the Lionheart Answers Blondel Revolution. It had existed even under the Letter to Agnès Sorel, it too owned by the de Nesle’s Singing (Fig. 5), painted in Ancien Régime, but the craze for early empress. Both these porcelain paintings, 1822, once belonged to the artist François French history gathered fresh momentum reproducing subjects from the service, Gérard. Here, Laurent chose a subject that and intensity as a result of the vandalism have been acquired by the National- was the quintessence of the Troubadour of the Revolution.5 The Troubadour style museum (Figs. 2–3). style. It was based on the medieval legend has become the umbrella term for this The Empress Joséphine is generally of how the troubadour Blondel de Nesle, phenomenon. One of its distinguishing described as an important promoter of by his singing, managed to track down the marks was its mouldability, its capacity to the Troubadour style. As well as several place where the Crusader king Richard assume different meanings. It would be works by Fleury-François Richard, she the Lionheart was held captive. The artist embraced in turn by the First Empire, had many other examples of the genre in records the moment at which the king the Restoration and the July monarchy – her picture gallery at Malmaison.
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