Literature
Ouvrages de Peinture, Sculpture, et Architecture..., Paris [undated], p. 7, nos. 38 and 42;
B. Mantura & G. Lacambre, Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (1750-1819), exhibition catalogue, Spoleto, Palazzo Racani Arroni, 27 June - 4 August 1996, p. 157;
G. Lacambre & L. Gallo, in 'La nature l'avait créé peintre': Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (1750-1819), exhibition catalogue, Toulouse, Musée Paul-Dupuy, 19 March - 30 June 2003, p. 252, under 'Salon de 1791', nos. 38 and 42. ENGRAVED:
By Victor Pillement (1764-1814), exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1814, no. 1308.
Notes
Since their appearance at the Paris Salon in 1791, immediately after they were painted, these Arcadian landscapes by Valenciennes have not been exhibited in public. Although documented and much discussed at the time of the Salon, they had remained untraced until recently. They are exquisite examples of the paysage historique; a genre in which Valenciennes became the pioneer, leading the way for the next generation of painters such as Jean-Victor Bertin, Pierre-Athanase Chauvin and Achille Etna Michallon. The paysage composé, an idealised landscape incorporating a subject taken from classical antiquity, became Valenciennes' speciality. Just as here Valenciennes paints narrative scenes with Oedipus and Ulysses in idyllic classical landscapes, his pair of paintings painted shortly afterwards (1792) in Quimper, Musée des Beaux-Arts, illustrate episodes from Ovid's Metamorphoses.υ1 Similarly his Cicero discovering the tomb of Archimedes at Syracuse in Toulouse, Musée des Augustins, painted in 1787 as the morceau de réception to the Académie Royale de Peinture, introduces a historical pretext for painting figures in an Arcadian landscape. Such was the popularity of the genre and the high regard in which it was held, that in 1817 the Prix de Rome de Paysage Historique was finally introduced, at Valenciennes' instigation. Born in Toulouse, Valenciennes made his first trip to Italy in 1769 at the age of nineteen, accompanying Mathias Dubourg, a member of parliament in Toulouse. After returning to France he settled in Paris where he met the ducs de Choiseul through Dubourg's brother Philippe, and entered the studio of the painter Gabriel-François Doyen. In 1777 Valenciennes returned to Italy, reaching Rome in October of that year, and remained there until 1784-85. During his Italian sojourn Valenciennes also travelled outside of Rome: in 1779 he visited Naples, Stromboli, Sicily, Pompeii and Paestum, clearly drawn to the antique ruins in the latter. He produced numerous plein air sketches of Rome and the surrounding Campagna, many of which he kept in his studio for inspiration and for didactic purposes. In the posthumous sale of Valenciennes' studio contents, on April 26, 1819, hundreds of drawings and sketches are listed: lot 15 "...quantité de Livres de Croquis, Recueils de Dessins au trait et à la sépia, représentant des Vues de Rome, faites d'après nature," each one annotated by Valenciennes with the location and date; and lot 7 "...environ 120 esquisses peintes à l'huile faites d'après nature à Rome".υ2 These esquisses were an intrinsic part of Valenciennes' working method, as laid out in his Eléments de perspective pratique (published in 1800), in which he encouraged students to paint oil sketches. He advised them not to spend any longer than two hours on each sketch - and only half an hour if painting at sunset or sunrise - to be sure to 'capture the moment' ('pour saisir la nature sur le fait'). He also encouraged painting the same site at different times of day to observe the changes nature undergoes. Valenciennes assumed the role of professeur de perspective, teaching at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, in 1812. The landscape setting for both these pictures reflects the artist's interest in the natural sciences: the trees and foliage are convincingly portrayed, as if studied from life, and the peculiar light effects serve to heighten the drama in each scene. Valenciennes uses nature to echo the theme in each picture: the thunder clouds hovering over the Eumenides Temple reflect the threatening mood of the villagers who want to expel Oedipus and his daughter Antigone from their sacred ground. Indeed the sense of colour and light in this painting, both crucial to conveying aerial perspective, were commented upon by contemporaries when the painting was exhibited at the Salon: "Des beaux plans; des effets piquants, une couleur harmonieuse, une touche franche et pure"υ3 and "Magnifique composition, sujet de figure intéressant, effet de soleil admirable"υ4 were just two of the written commentaries. The light effects in its pendant, showing Ulysses imploring assistance from Nausicaa, are equally impressive albeit less dramatic, and yet one contemporary gave it a rather unforgiving review: "Ce genre demande plus de fraîcheur dans les teintes, plus d'étude dans vos arbres, plus précieux dans vos devants, plus de légèreté, de vérité et de fini; rappelez-vous quelquefois les beaux Claude Lorrain, Ruisdael [sic], Both et Nicolas Poussin".υ5 This comment seems particularly surprising given the fact that the painting is indeed very Claudian and Poussinesque. Both subjects are taken from Greek mythology; the first from Sophocles' 'Oedipus Cycle' and the latter from Book VI of Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey. Oedipus at Colonus is the second of three Theban plays that constitute the 'Oedipus Cycle', written by the Greek tragedian Sophocles in the 5th century B.C. Led by his daughter Antigone, the blind Oedipus enters the village of Colonus and sits upon a stone. A villager approaches and demands their departure for they are on ground that is sacred to the Furies, or Eumenides. Valenciennes shows the moment in which Oedipus and Antigone are confronted by the chorus of old men from the village. They have just learnt of Oedipus' identity - and therefore of his incest and patricide - and, wishing to avoid him cursing their land, they are banishing him from Colonus. Antigone's imploring gesture mirrors that of the villager with outstretched arm, but the action is subordinate to the portrayal of the landscape. The nature surrounding the protagonists is the real subject of this painting and it perfectly echoes the dramatic mood: the approaching thunderstorm, which Oedipus interprets as a sign of his impending death, is convincingly portrayed and the light shining on the stone well in the foreground is symbolic of Oedipus' prophetic vision; a light that also contrasts his blindness. In the second painting, Ulysses has just landed on the shores of the kingdom of Alcinous and is emerging from his hiding-place by a river where the king's daughter Nausicaa comes with her maidens to wash clothes. They have been interrupted in their task and Ulysses, naked but for some foliage, creeps out of the bushes and approaches the princess with trepidation. His outstretched arms show his unease, in part due to his lack of attire, and the sun shines brightly upon him, emphasizing his nakedness and underlining the fact that he has come out into the open. The figure of Nausicaa, dressed so prominently in white, contrasts the exposed figure of Ulysses. The light effects in this painting are particularly effective: Nausicaa's maidens cower in the shade behind the riverbank and the key protagonists confront each other in bright sunlight. Ulysses later turned down the opportunity to marry Nausicaa offered to him by her father Alcinous; a further testament to his fidelity to Penelope. The View of Colonus and the Eumenides Temple with Oedipus and his daughter Antigone was engraved in folio by Victor Pillement (1764-1814) with the inscription: 'OEdipe à Colonne/ Valenciennes Pinxit/ V. Pillement fils Sculpt./ Se vend à Paris chez la V. Pillement, Rue des Filles du Calvaire, no 21 et chez Banc Apiné, rue Saint-Denis, no 214.'υ6 Pillement's engraving was exhibited at the Paris Salon of November 1814, as no. 1308.υ7 1 Inv. no. 873-1-439; Landscape with Biblis being transformed into a fountain and its pendant representing a Landscape with Narcissus, both signed and dated 1792 and exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1793. See L. Gallo, in Mantura & Lacambre, under Literature, pp. 144-45, cat. nos. 65 and 66, reproduced in colour pp. 110-11.
2 Of these, 129 drawings, 9 albums of sketches and 134 painted studies were gifted to the Louvre in 1930; see A. Ottani Cavina, in Paysages d'Italie. Les peintres du plein air (1780-1830), exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, April 3 - July 9, 2001, p. 112.
3 'Beautiful planes; subtle effects, harmonious colours, a confident and pure handling of paint'; Explication et critique impartiale de toutes les peintures, les sculptures, gravures, dessins, etc. exposées au Louvre, Paris 1791, p. 8.
4 'Magnificent composition, interesting subject matter, admirable effect of sunlight'; La Béquille de Voltaire au Salon, première promenade, Paris, year III, p. 12.
5 'This genre needs greater freshness in the colours, greater study for the trees, more detail in the foregrounds, more lightness of touch, truth and finish; remember the great Claude Lorrain, Ruisdael, Both and Nicolas Poussin'; Salon de peinture 1791, undated [Paris 1791], p. 18.
6 Paris, Cabinet des Estampes de la Bibliothèque Naitonale de France, inv. AA 5.
7 Explication des ouvrages de Peinture, Sculpture, Architecture et Gravure, Paris 1815, p. 127.
