The Orient Imagined, Experienced and Remembered in the Work of Alexandre Gabriel Decamps (1803-1860): A Study of the Artist’s Personal Orient by Ana-Joel Falcón A thesis submitted to the Department of Art In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Art Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (December, 2008) Copyright ©Ana-Joel Falcón, 2008 ISBN: 978-0-494-46225-6 Abstract Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps (1803-1863) set out on his only trip to Greece and Turkey in 1828 to return to France and produce visual images of the Orient at a time when no major European artist had traveled to the Near East and at a time when the Orient had yet to be experienced, understood, and interpreted. Decamps’ highly original and personal interpretation of the Orient in painting has been studied by present-day scholars exclusively within the context of Romantic Orientalist genre painting. Studying criticism written on his work throughout the 19th century and working closely with his paintings, certain issues in his Orientalist paintings question the longstanding categorization of his work as solely Romantic Orientalist genre paintings. The fact that the artist never returned to the Orient; the fact that he invested his Orientalist landscapes with a Rembrandtesque rather than Oriental light; his constant inclusion of contrasting opposites in the ostensibly subdued compositions he produced; the striking differences between his Oriental visual expressions and those of his Romantic contemporaries; and his own sentiment of being a failed artist, reveal alternative, less settled, readings of his work. Studying Decamps’ Orientalist oeuvre in its social and political contexts and taking into account the artist’s personal ambitions demonstrates the lasting resonance of this work, of the artist’s highly original working methods, and of his innovative technique. This study provides an assessment of Decamps’ Oriental work; it also delineates its relevance and influence in movements beyond Romanticism and into trends that developed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank those without whose advice and guidance this project would have been unachievable. My thesis supervisor, Professor Sebastian Schütze, provided thoughtful counsel, insight, and positive guidance at every stage of my research and writing. I am indebted to him for the advice and expertise he shared in supervising this thesis. I would also like to thank him for the many letters he wrote on my behalf, which granted me access to the Cabinet de Dessins at the Louvre, to the drawing archives at the Wallace Collection, to the Cabinet des Arts graphiques at the Musée Condé in Chantilly, and more. Without these resources my thesis would simply not have been conceived. My thesis co- supervisor, Janet Brooke, provided insightful advice and generous support. Her expertise in this field was an invaluable resource. Rebecca Wallis at the Wallace Collection was particularly generous in making key works accessible for study and I am grateful for that. I would also like to thank the many colleagues and friends who patiently listened to the, at times confused, themes and ideas still in progress, and inspired me to deepen my thinking and at the same time, renew my inspiration in this journey of discovery. Lastly, I would like to thank my parents, Roberto and Martha Falcón, who have supported me wholeheartedly, lovingly, and with great patience. Their courage and dedication have been constant sources of encouragement and inspiration. It is to them that I dedicate this work. iii Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................... vi Preface ......................................................................................................................................................... ix Statement of Interest ................................................................................................................................. xvi Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2 Towards Decamps’ Oriental Sources: Early Voyages ................................................................... 6 2.1 Switzerland (1824) .............................................................................................................................. 6 2.2 The South and Meridian of France (1825) .......................................................................................... 9 2.3 Criticism at the Salon of 1827: Early Interpretations of Decamps’ Orient ....................................... 14 2.4 Decamps’ Voyage to the Orient (1828): Context and Consequence ................................................ 19 Chapter 3 Towards Change: Decamps’ Personal Style ............................................................................... 22 3.1 Social and Political Conditions during the Early 1830’s .................................................................... 22 3.2 Criticism during the Salon of 1831: Towards Decamps’ Personal Orient ......................................... 25 3.3 Criticism during the Salon of 1831: Conclusion ................................................................................ 32 3.4 Social and Political Conditions during the Salon of 1833: Official Patronage ................................... 34 3.5 Unofficial Patronage: Enriched Amateurs and the Bourgeoisie ....................................................... 40 3.6 Criticism during the Salon of 1833 .................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 4 Towards Decamps’ New Oriental Sources ................................................................................. 44 4.1 A Closer Look at Decamps’ Buyers .................................................................................................... 50 4.2 Contemporary Concerns with Truthfulness and Realism ................................................................. 52 4.3 Criticism during the Salon of 1833: Conclusion ................................................................................ 53 4.4 The Salon of 1834: Criticism and Decamps’ voie nouvelle ................................................................ 54 4.5 Decamps’ Innovative Technique ....................................................................................................... 63 4.6 General Tone at the Salon of 1834: A Concern with Truthfulness ................................................... 67 4.7 Salon of 1839: Towards a More Familiar Orient ............................................................................... 74 4.8 Criticism during the Salon of 1839 .................................................................................................... 81 4.9 Overall Tone at the Salon of 1839..................................................................................................... 84 Chapter 5 Towards Decamps’ Mature Subjects: An Effort towards Classicism .......................................... 85 5.1 Decamps’ envoi to the Salons of 1842 and 1845 .............................................................................. 85 iv 5.2 Works on Paper: A New Approach.................................................................................................... 92 5.3 Salon of 1846: New Tensions in Decamps’ voie nouvelle ................................................................. 96 5.4 Social Conditions during the July Monarchy ..................................................................................... 98 5.5 Criticism during the Salon of 1846 .................................................................................................... 99 5.6 Decamps’ Personal Ambitions and New Tensions .......................................................................... 103 5.7 Decamps’ Methodology: Working from Memory ........................................................................... 111 Chapter 6 Understanding Decamps’ Personal Orient ............................................................................... 118 6.1 Salon of 1850-51 and the Universal Exhibition ............................................................................... 118 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………….130 Appendix A: Salon Production……………....................................……………………………………………………………..146 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….…………………..156 v List of Figures Figure 1 Decamps, School Time, c. 1820-22 (21 x 32.3 cm) Location Unknown (Mosby, no. 518) ........... 2 Figure 2 Decamps, La Sortie de l’école, c. 1841 (13.5 x18 cm) Sepia and Gouache. Musée Bonnat, Bayonne (Mosby, no. 34) .............................................................................................................................. 2 Figure 3 Decamps, La Sortie de l'école turque,