Lot 72: François-Xavier Fabre (Montpellier 1766-1837)

François-Xavier Fabre (Montpellier 1766-1837)
The death of Saul; and Arria and Paetus
inscribed 'Empia filiste Me troverai, ma alme da re, qui morto' (1)
black chalk, brown wash (1); black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown and grey wash (2)
3¾ x 2 7/8 in. (95 x 73 mm.); 3½ x 4 5/8 in. (88 x 118 mm.)

The inscription at the bottom of the first drawing are the last words (Act V, Sc. 5) of Vittorio Alfieri's tragedy, Saul published in 1784. Saul, after having lost his children and as the Philistines are approaching to capture him, kills himself. In 1803 Fabre executed a large canvas taken from Act 5, Sc. 3, Saul crazed by his remorse now in Montpellier (François-Xavier Fabre (1766-1837) de Florence à Montpellier, exhib. cat., Montpellier, 2008, no. 116) for Alfieri and the Countess of Albany. We thank Madame Laure Pellicer and Monsieur Mehdi Korchane for their help in cataloguing this lot.