Page 94 - Pierre Durand Collection Including Chinese Art and Porcelain Sothebys Jan 27 2022

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JEAN-HIPPOLYTE FLANDRIN (LYON 1809-1864 VENICE) This study of an angel is related to the mural decoration of the church
Study for an angel holding wreaths of Saint-Germain-de-Prés in Paris, one of the earliest religious buildings
erected in the city and the capital’s very first basilica. Between 1842 and
with number ‘n. 164’ (lower right)
1870 the church was renovated and transformed with a new decorative
graphite and red chalk, on light brown wove paper, squared for transfer in
campaign of murals covering the interior walls of the choir and of the nave
graphite
10¬ x 17º in. (27 x 45 cm) with episodes from the Old and New Testament. The decorative project
was entrusted to Hippolyte Flandrin (on the commission see B. Horaist,
$2,000-3,000
‘Hippolyte Flandrin à Saint-Germain-des-Prés’, Bulletin de la Société de
l’Histoire de l’Art Français, CVI, 1980, pp. 211-232; and S. Paccoud, É.
PROVENANCE:
Estate of the artist (L. 933); Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 15-17 May 1865, part of lot Checroun and L. Delbarre in Hippolyte, Paul, Auguste. Les Flandrin, artistes
250. et frères, exhib. cat., Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 2021, pp. 246-259, nos.
with Eric G. Carlson, New York. 291-330, ill., pp. 280-289). Partly executed in encaustic, in an attempt to
reproduce ancient techniques, contemporary critics declared the interior
of Saint-Germain-des-Prés Flandrin’s masterpiece. This figure of an angel
is painted in the uppermost portion of the choir above the stained glass
windows.

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