Jean-Jacques Henner (1829-1905)
| Artist Name | Jean-Jacques Henner (1829-1905) |
|---|---|
| Title | La Source - Nude in a Landscape |
| Description | This superb French 19th century oil painting, La Source, location previously unknown according to the Jean Jacques Henner Museum catalogue of pictures, is a fantastic art historical re-discovery. It is by noted artist Jean Jacques Henner, a French painter, noted for his use of sfumato and chiaroscuro in nudes, religious subjects, and portraits. La Source, or Spring, is a magnificent, very large French Romantic oil painting depicting a subject for which Henner became famous. The painting was begun in 1880 and completed in 1881 and it was exhibited at the Paris Salon that year. The sitter is Dorothy Tenant (1855-1926) or Dolly, an English art pupil of Henner’s and also his model. (See her biography below). According to the artist’s diary of January 1880, working titles included Seated Woman Combing her Hair, Woman Seated at the Spring Combing her Hair, Seated Figure at the Spring. These were all pared down to La Source or The Spring. The painting was put away for a while whilst Henner worked on several sketches, before completing it for the Salon in 1881. La Source is a painting of a beautiful young woman, Dolly, unclothed, combing her long auburn hair, sat on the edge of a pool or spring in a landscape. Her serene face and body are almost glowing against the darker landscape, all enhanced by the sfumato and chiaroscuro technique. Indeed, Dolly Tennant commented on the painting that her skin glowed against the darkness like a pearl. Beyond her is a patch of startling blue sky, reflected in the pool at her feet. The rough brush work in the flora and fauna around her, a precursor to French Impressionism, contrasts with the smoothness of her skin. A really stunning painting with excellent provenance that has been thoroughly researched. This painting is in the Henner Musee National catalogue of paintings by Isabelle de Lannoy, noted as location unknown and exhibited at the Salon in 1881. Also noted in the museum catalogue are two preparatory studies for La Source identifying the sitter as Dolly Tennant. One of the images is also shown on the front cover. Signed lower right. |
| Provenance | Exhibited Paris Salon 1881 no. 1125 entitled La Source. 1881 Goupil 1881 New York, Herman Schauss Gallery New York, Mrs Morgan 1886 05/03 New York Am Art Ass. Mary J Morgan Sale lot no. 229 1886 Montreal, Mr Donald Smith Catalogue of Paintings for National Museum of Jean Jacques Henner, France, by Isabelle de Lannay, p174. La Source, Salon 1881, location unknown. Plus study of Dolly Tennant for La Source and another study for La Source. The New York Market for French Art in the Gilded Age, 1867-1893 by Dr Leanne Zalewski, published by Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2022, page 39, La Source image 3.3. Formerly in the collection of Mary Jane Morgan (see below). Aitken Dott - The Scottish Gallery ref R9101. Sotheby sale 30th Dec 1985. Thomas Agnews and Sons. |
| Medium | Oil on Canvas |
| Size | 39.5 x 28.5 inches |
| Frame | Housed in a fine frame, 45 inches by 37 inches, in good condition. |
| Condition | Good condition. |
| Biography | Jean-Jacques Henner (15 March 1829 – 23 July 1905) was a French painter, noted for his use of sfumato and chiaroscuro in painting nudes, religious subjects, and portraits. Henner was born at Bernwiller (Alsace). He began his studies in art as a pupil of Michel Martin Drolling and François-Édouard Picot. In 1848, he entered the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, and took the Prix de Rome with a painting of Adam and Eve finding the Body of Abel in 1858. In Rome, he was guided by Flandrin, and painted four pictures for the gallery at Colmar among other works. He first exhibited Bather Asleep at the Salon in 1863 and subsequently contributed Chaste Susanna (1865), now in the Musée d'Orsay. Other noted works include: Byblis turned into a Spring (1867); The Magdalene (1878); Portrait of M. Hayem (1878); Christ Entombed (1879); Saint Jerome (1881); Herodias (1887); A Study (1891); Christ in His Shroud and a Portrait of Carolus-Duran (1896); a Portrait of Mlle Fouquier (1897); and The Dream (1900).The Levite of the Tribe of Ephraim (1898) was awarded a first-class medal. Among other professional distinctions, Henner also took a Grand Prix for painting at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1873, Officer in 1878, and Commander in 1889. In 1889, he succeeded Cabanel in the Institut de France. Henner's most widely known work is his 1885 portrait of Saint Fabiola. Although the original is now lost, it was copied by artists around the world for devotional purposes. Artist Francis Alÿs has collected over 500 copies of the portrait in a variety of media. The collection, known as the "Fabiola Project," is on exhibit at the Byzantine Fresco Chapel of the Menil Collection in Houston from May 21, 2016 - May 13, 2018. Henner had numerous pupils; among them were the American painter Mathilde Mueden Leisenring and the Romanian artist Dimitrie Serafim. From 1874 to 1889, organized with Carolus-Duran, what he called "the studio of the ladies" for women were not allowed entry to the École des Beaux-Arts. Some also served as his models. One of these was Dorothy Tennant who later married Henry Morton Stanley. Henner died at age 76 in Paris. SITTER BIOGRAPHY Dorothy Tennant (22 March 1855 – 5 October 1926) was an English painter of the Victorian era neoclassicism. She was married to the explorer Henry Morton Stanley. Tennant was born in Russell Square, London, the second daughter of Charles Tennant and Gertrude Barbara Rich Collier (1819–1918). Her sister was the photographer, Eveleen Tennant Myers. She studied painting under Edward Poynter at the Slade School of Fine Art, London and with Jean-Jacques Henner in Paris. She first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1886 and subsequently at the New Gallery and the Grosvenor Gallery in London. Outside of London Tennant featured in exhibitions by the Fine Art Society in Glasgow and also in the Autumn Exhibitions held in Liverpool and Manchester. In 1890, she married the explorer of Africa, Henry Morton Stanley, and became known as Lady Stanley. She edited her husband's autobiography, reportedly removing any references to other women in Stanley's life. After Stanley's death, she married, in 1907, Henry Jones Curtis (died 19 February 1944), a pathologist, surgeon and writer. She was also an author and illustrated several books, including London Street Arabs in 1890.She died of heart failure on October 5, 1926. MARY JANE MORGAN COLLECTION When Mary Jane Morgan's collection of fine and decorative art was sold in a marathon 12-day auction in 1886, the New York Times reported a "phenomenon like the public interest in the diamonds, ceramics and paintings of the late Mrs. Mary Jane Morgan has yet to be pointed out in any country." The total was over $1.2 million. Amazingly, Mary Jane Morgan (1821-1885) had only begun to amass her collection seven years earlier. Following the death of her husband, she used her $9 million inheritance to collect voraciously. By the time of her death in 1885, the press reported that "the house of the late Mrs. Morgan is literally honeycombed with secret closets and drawers filled with works of art of the most varied kind. Since the first inventory was made there have been several supplements. Now the total value is put down at something like four million dollars." (Town Topics, November 1885) Morgan's collection was the subject of considerable press commentary, as to its merit, the large sums of money spent to acquire it, and even upon the sanity of its proprietor. The sale at New York's American Art Association was attended by thousands of spectators, who each paid fifty cents to see the exhibit. It was also attended by collectors such as William Walters, Henry G. Marquand, Henry O. Havemeyer, Mrs. Collis P. Huntington and Mrs. Ogden Goelet. The silver in the sale comprised 154 lots and was, as the catalogue states, "with few exceptions made to order by Messrs Tiffany & Co." Much of Morgan's silver was of "Oriental" design, but there was considerable variety, including a pair of 20-light, 6-foot chrysanthemum pattern candelabra, several examples of mixed-metal and mokume, and Centennial exhibition silver employing native American motifs. This renaissance revival centerpiece, lot 700 in the 1886 Morgan sale, sold for $247.00. (see: Daphne T. Nash, The Art Collection of Mary Jane Morgan: A Document of Taste in Nineteenth Century New York, Master's Thesis, the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, 1999; American Art Association, Catalogue of the Art Collection of Mary Jane Morgan, March 3, 1886 - March 15, 1886) |
| Price | £ NOT FOR SALE |
