Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ

The artist's collection;

Thence by descent;

Sale Succession Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ, Arnauné-Prim, Toulouse, 22 June 1999 (as per a stamp on the reverse).

Admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1861 at the age of nineteen, Jean-Jules Antoine Lecomte du Noüy at first trained in the studio of the Swiss painter Charles Gleyre, between 1861 and 1863. Briefly a pupil of Émile Signol, he then joined the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme. This final part of his artistic development proved decisive: Gérôme taught his pupil aesthetics and the classical canons, the theories of the beau idéal and of nature’s beauty. He also encouraged him to travel to the Orient.

In 1865, he went to Egypt with the painter Félix-Auguste Clément. This was followed by trips to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Morocco and Algeria. His extensive travel, his taste for the antique and his rich archaeological and religious knowledge were his principal sources of inspiration. Combining neo-Greek and Orientalist styles, Jean-Jules Antoine Lecomte du Noüy very quickly found success and exhibited from 1863 at the Salon for French artists.

The present oil painting is a study of feet. This anatomical study, with its marmoreal appearance, was almost certainly made for a larger composition, from the observation of sculptural groups, a practice he adopted during his years at the Beaux-Arts in Paris.

The artist’s taste for anatomical fragments and for the study of harmonious proportions and dimensions is revealed in several preparatory sketches in pencil, chalk or oil for larger compositions (Alexander at the tomb of Achilles, Saint Vincent de Paul…) in the Musée d’Art et d’Archéologie in Aurillac and in private hands.

The light and shadow effects, the superimposition of the apparently suspended feet, their sometimes slender and sometimes Herculean form, partially pointing or planted firmly on the ground, make this composition very distinctive and enigmatic, typical of the abundant oeuvre of the painter who said: ‘Gérôme is my master and Raphael is my god’ (see R.Diederen, From Homer to the Harem, New York, 2004, p. 9).