Lot 226: PAUL MATHIAS OCHSÉ KAPUVÁR, HUNGARY 1797-1842 VIENNA

SIX SCENES FROM THE TALE OF 'PAUL ET VIRGINIE'

measurements note
each circa 320 by 410mm

five signed in white heightening outside framing line, lower right: P. Ochs. 1830.

all gouache over black chalk, within black ink framing lines

Quantity: 6

NOTE

These scenes are taken from the novel, Paul et Virginie, written by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre in 1787. The tragic romance, set in Mauritius, tells of the innocent love between the two eponymous children, and their separation when Virginie is forced to leave the island to be educated. On her return, her ship is wrecked, and Virginie is drowned as Paul helplessly looks on; he subsequently dies of a broken heart. Drawing from Rousseau, the tale influenced a generation of writers, including Balzac, Flaubert and George Sand, and appeared in numerous editions in France and across the world.

Little is known of Ochsé, other than his being a painter and lithographer of Swiss origin, who studied at the Academy of Fine Art, Vienna.