Lot 22: *SOPHIE RUDE, NEE FREMIET (FRENCH, 1797-1867)

*SOPHIE RUDE, NEE FREMIET (FRENCH, 1797-1867)
THE DEATH OF CENCHIRIAS,
SON OF NEPTUNE
oil on canvas
unframed: 81 1/4 by 100 1/4 in.
206.4 by 254.6 cm.
Painted circa 1822-23, this painting illustrates the nymph Peirene lamenting the death of her son Cenchirias, who has been killed accidentally by an arrow from the quiver of the goddess Diana. Diana, clad in a panther-skin, is followed by her entourage and two dogs on the left of the composition; on the right stand two women presumed to be relatives of the slain boy and a servant-girl. The legend has it that a spring was formed by the tears of Peirine in Corinth, where a port was named after Cenchirias.
This may be the "picture with a mythological scenery" which L'Oracle described as having been exhibited in Brussels in December 1823; it may further have been the picture which won the artist a gold medal at an exhibition in Ghent in February 1824, and which was exhibited the following year in Haarlem.
Sophie Fremiet studied initially with the founder of the Dijon School, Francois Devosge; she then followed her family into exile in Brussels in 1815 and there established herself as one of the most prominent of David's pupils, making copies under his supervision of two of his late masterpieces, Telemaque et Eucharis (Getty Museum, Malibu; sold in these rooms on February 24, 1987) and La Colere d'Achille (Kimbell Art Museum, Forth Worth). In 1821, she married the sculptor Francois Rude, with whom she collaborated on the decoration of the castle of Tervueren, a former summer residence of the Dukes of Brabant. In the late 1820's, Sophie and her husband settled in Paris, where she was a frequent exhibitor at the Salon.
EXHIBITED:
Possibly Brussels, December 1823
Possibly Ghent, February 1824
Possibly Haarlem, 1825
LITERATURE:
L'Oracle, December 29, 1823, possibly the picture mentioned p. 4
Messager des Sciences et des Arts, Vols. IX-X, 1823, pp. 414-5, possibly listed as Mort de Cenchree, fils de Neptune 'a l'instant ou Pirene soutenant son fils mourant, supplie la deese Diane de le sauver'
E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, Paris, 1976,
Vol 9, possibly listed p. 166 as La Mort de Cyros