FRANÇOIS-ANDRÉ VINCENT | Arria and Paetus

Probablement Jean-Guillaume Moitte (1746-1810), 
la vente de sa femme, 20-21 août 1807, lot 32 (comme « Arrie après s'être enfoncé un poignard dans le sein, le présente à Poetus son mari, en lui disant: Tien Poetus il ne m'a point fait de mal; dessin à la plume et au bistre du tableau peint pour feu M. Cochu, docteur en médecine »). ;
Acquis à Bordeaux, galerie Guy Imberti, 1986

Rennes, 2012, n°68 (notice par Jean-Pierre Cuzin) ;
Sceaux, 2013 (sans catalogue)

J. Cuzin, François André Vincent, "Cahiers du dessin français", IV, Paris, 1988, p.21, n°43, repr. ; 
G. Gramaccini, Jean-Guillaume Moitte (1746-1810): Leben und Werk, Berlin, 1993, vol. II, p.84, no. 198 (comme perdu). ;
A.L. Clark et al., Mastery and Elegance; Two Centuries of French Drawings from the Collection of Jeffrey E. Horvitz, exh. cat., Cambridge, Harvard University Art Museum et al., 1998-2000, p.312, fig. 3 ;
A. Guité, notice sur le tableau de François André Vincent, Arria et Paetus, catalogue de vente, galerie Didier Aaron, Paris / Londres / New York, X, août 2008, n°18, fig. d ;
J.-P. Cuzin, François-André Vincent, 1746-1816: Entre Fragonard et David, Paris 2013, p.137, repr. et p.438, no. 436D ;
L.-A. Prat, Le Dessins Francais au XVIII^e Siècle, Paris, 2017, p.607, n°1255, repr.

Laid down on an old decorative mount. There is evidence of some very light surface dirt and a number of old pin prick holes along the left edge of the sheet. The combination of media remains in predominantly very fine condition throughout, with the pen and ink and wash fresh and vibrant and the image strong. Sold in a modern giltwood frame. Sold framed.
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This highly impressive and imposing sheet by the French neoclassical painter, François André Vincent, is undoubtedly one of the artist’s most important compositional drawings to have appeared on the market in recent years. It was created circa 1784, in preparation for his painting of the same subject, now housed in the Saint Louis Art Museum (fig.1).¹ The scene depicted, taken from Roman history, was documented by Pliny the Younger in one of his fascinating and invaluable surviving letters, in which he describes the actions of Arria, whose husband, Caecina Paetus, had been condemned to a “noble death”, following a failed conspiracy against the Emperor Claudius, in 42 AD. Pliny notes that Paetus, unable to take his own life, was given courage by Arria, who having stabbed herself with a dagger, uttered the immortal words: "Paete, non dolet" ("Paetus, it does not hurt"). The composition of the present work depicts the moment before Arria’s death, when she exhorts Paetus to take his own life, an act that, though challenging to a modern day viewer, would have been viewed as the honourable, even heroic, thing for somebody in his position to do. The Adrien drawing brilliantly encapsulates the wildly conflicting emotions felt by the two main protagonists, with the steely determination and bravery of Arria, whose facial features are composed and focused, contrasting dramatically with Paetus who, in despair, is depicted slumped on a seat, his eyes unable to establish contact with those of his wife, and the pose of his leg, angled away from Arria’s outstretched arm, indicative of the hesitation and fear that he feels towards her bold suggestion.

This highly emotive subject is one that only infrequently appears in the Western canon; however the narrative, so heavily focused on honour, is one that would have had particular resonance with viewers at the Salon of 1785, when Vincent exhibited the Saint Louis painting alongside a second painting of the subject, now housed in the Musée de Picardie, Amiens.²

Vincent, like his great artistic contemporary Jacques-Louis David, frequently employed narratives from Ancient Rome in his work, to reflect the prevailing political sentiments in France in the late 18th Century. As the country’s politics and leadership underwent a bloody upheaval in the Revolution, so too did the nation’s art, moving decisively away from the frivolities of the Rococo, to a more patriotic and idealistic viewpoint in Neoclassicism.

The present work can be closely compared to another imposing sheet by Vincent for the Amiens painting, now in the Horvitz Collection, Boston, similarly executed in pen and brown ink, with the abundant use of wash and, in the case of the Horvitz drawing, white heightening.³ The obvious difference between these two sheets lies in the fact that Vincent depicts the figures in the Horvitz drawing fully clothed, as in the final Saint Louis painting, in contrast to the present work, where the vigorously drawn protagonists are depicted nude. Though other drawings,⁴ beyond the Horvitz sheet, are known to survive for the Amiens painting, the present drawing is undoubtedly the most significant survival in relation to the Saint Louis picture, making its re-emergence on the art market a fascinating and exciting opportunity to consider Vincent’s working methods, as well as his important artistic legacy.

^1. See Exhibited, p. 184, Fig. 1, reproduced

^2. Amiens, Musée de Picardie, inv. no. M.P. 2004.17.177

^3. See A.L. Clark et al., Tradition & Transitions, Eighteenth-Century French Art from The Horvitz Collection, exh. cat., Petit Palais, Paris, 2017, p. 306, no. 121, p. 307, reproduced; J.-P. Cuzin, François-André Vincent 1746-1816, Cahiers du dessin français, no. 4, Paris, p. 21, no. 41, reproduced

^4. Ibid., p. 21, no. 42, reproduced