Paul Émile Antony Morlon

Sale: Stockholms Auktionsverk, Stockholm, November 27, 2008, lot 2363, illustrated

Paris, Salon des Artistes Français, 1879, no. 2192

L'Illustration, Paris, January 4, 1879, vol. 73, p. 346
Le Devoir: Journal des Réformes Sociales, Paris, April 6, 1879, vol. 3, no. 30, p. 715
L'Illustration, Paris, May 16, 1908, p. 331, illustrated

Lined. The surface presents well and appears clean and bright. There is pigment separation scattered in the wooded background and an approximately 1 ¼ inch diagonal scratch with associated loss in the trees at upper center. Minor abrasion to the three-figure group at far left and scattered pinpoint accretions throughout the figure group. Under UV: the majority of the work is covered in older green fluorescing varnish that has been partly cleaned in the central figure group. There are a few widely scattered older retouches as well as finely applied retouches to address previous pigment separation in the central figure group and a few pinpoint dot retouches in the leg of the woman in white at center. There is one pinpoint dot of retouching in the signature and three minor horizontal areas of inpainting at the left lower edge.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Une mode nouvelle sous le Directoire focuses on three glamorous and eyebrow-raising Parisian socialites, the merveilleuses Thérésa Tallien, Juliette Récamier and Joséphine de Beauharnais. Dressed in radical Grecian revival fashions, they promenade in the Jardin du Palais Royal, to the delight of an attentive male entourage of Incroyables and state officials (a similar scene was depicted by Boilly, fig. 1, 1797, Private Collection). However, the flamboyant group’s presence is not admired by all, for beneath the shadows of the trees, a woman in a mob cap adorned with the cockades of the Jacobins retreats in disgust. She is accompanied by a young boy in a Phrygian cap, and a dour man dressed in black, mourning the Revolution in the wake of the new regime.

Merveilleuses and Incroyables flaunted their unique and exaggerated style and affected mannerisms in reaction to the traumas of the Reign of Terror. Thérésa Tallien, depicted in a black gown flecked with gold, led women’s nouvelle fashion for Grecian revival dress. She scandalized her fellow Parisians with her sheer dresses, revealing décolletage and lavish jewels. After seeing her in a white Grecian style gown at the Opéra, the politician Talleyrand commented, “il n'est pas possible de s'exposer plus somptueusement” ("it is not possible to be more sumptuously exposed"). 

Thérésa Tallien (fig. 2) had survived imprisonment during the Terror and contributed, along with her lover and to-be husband Jean-Lambert Tallien, to the overthrow of Maximilien Robespierre. She emerged from the political and social upheaval as a dazzling icon of the Directoire and was a leading figure in Parisian society.