The Curtain Rises on a Drawing by Paul Cézanne

Published on 02 March 2022, by Philippe Dufour

Auction on 13 March 2022 - 10:00 (CET) - 25, rue du Temple - 51100 Reims

A drawing that has recently surfaced features the first pen strokes of the famous painter of Mont Sainte-Victoire in Aix-en-Provence and adds a page to a famous sketchbook compiled with his sister Marie, which subsequently dismembered.

Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), Soldat et vieille femme (Soldier and Old Woman), c. 1856-1857;... The Curtain Rises on a Drawing by Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), Soldat et vieille femme (Soldier and Old Woman), c. 1856-1857; verso: pen and brown ink on pencil lines on 22.4 x 16.9 cm/8.8 x 6.7 in; recto: black pencil on paper by Marie Cézanne (1841-1921), Paysage au calvaire (Landscape with Calvary), and a handwritten inscription by Jean-Pierre Cézanne.
Estimate: €20,000/30,000

A strange dialogue is seen between a warrior wearing a helmet and armor and an old woman seated, both barefoot. The conversation seems to revolve around vials held up by each, probably containing a liquid she has concocted, perhaps an elixir or poison. While the precise subject of this drawing is still unknown, but it was possibly taken from an ancient tale or classical painting, the artist has now been identified: Paul Cézanne…

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