Ary SCHEFFER (1795-1858), workshop of Saint Augustine... Lot 50

Ary SCHEFFER (1795-1858), workshop of Saint Augustine and Saint Monica (after the first version of 1844-1845). Oil on canvas (accidents, tears). H. 61 cm L. : 50 cm. History: In 1844-1845, Scheffer was inspired by a chapter of St. Augustine's Confessions (Book IX, chapter X : Colloquium cum matre de regno coelorum), in which the Saint remembers with an almost ecstatic spiritual conversation with his mother, shortly before her death: "We were alone death: "We were alone, conversing with ineffable sweetness and in oblivion of the past, devouring past, devouring the horizon of the future, we were searching between us, in the presence of the truth that truth that you are, what will be for the saints this eternal life that the eye has not seen, that the ear has not heard and which the heart of man does not reach. For the face of Saint Monica, the painter chose as model his own mother, the painter Cornelia Lamme (1769-1839), who had died a few years earlier. This detail caused a great deal of sympathy of the public who discovered the work exposed to the Salon of 1846. Scheffer had exhibited for six editions. In 1846, he presented seven works, a kind of spectacular comeback that was which will be abundantly commented. His Saint Augustine and Saint Monica is greeted by Chateaubriand, Madame Récamier, Krasinski. Arsène Houssaye saw it as "a masterpiece". The romantic newspaper L'Artiste described it as the "most religious" painting of the Salon. The critic Thoré writes that Scheffer "alone, has the privilege of a universal admiration" of the public. However, some harsh persiflages (in particular of the young Baudelaire) will reach the painter who, disappointed and saddened by the painter who, disappointed and saddened, will not return any more to the Salon. Acquired immediately by Queen Marie-Amélie, Saint Augustine and Saint Monica will figure prominently in the chapel of the British exile of the royal family, at Claremont House. Passed down through Marie-Amélie's descendants until 1973, the work is still today in private collection. In 1854, Scheffer realized a second version, with some variations, and by taking as a London salonist and philanthropist, Mrs. Robert Hollond (London, The National Gallery, inv. NG1170). in the Louvre since 1885 (inv. RF 2411), which has been the subject of numerous replicas. Our work seems to be the only known copy, in reduction, of the first version of 1844-1845. Expert : Maxime CHARRON File realized with Mr Pierre-Antoine MARTENET, expert in old paintings (0608172849 - pam@quirinal.fr).