Bust of Julie Récamier

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Bust of Juliette Récamier in the Musée des Beaux-arts, Lyon, 1804–1808

Busts of Julie Récamier are busts of the Parisian Salonnière Julie Récamier (1777–1849) created between 1795 and 1812 by the French sculptor Joseph Chinard (1756–1813 ). The portraits, some in marble and some in plaster, are still very popular today and are located in different locations around the world.

description

The sizes of the busts differ greatly, which is due to their different designs. Their material is also not uniform, so there are versions in plaster , terracotta , bronze and marble .

All busts show the upper part of Julie Récamier's body, mostly starting above the hips. The sitter's head is tilted slightly to one side, her gaze directed towards the floor. A comb holds her hair, which is pinned up with towels and headbands. The crest is modeled on a bundle of arrows. Small cupids with bows and arrows are depicted on the hairbands . The bangles also suggest an antique representation. With both hands the sitter holds a thin cloth that is wrapped around her shoulders. The transition between the cloth and the robe that covers your upper body is fluid. Nevertheless, Julie Récamier is only partially covered, her left breast remains exposed and the contours of her body are clearly visible. While she seems to want to cover her bare parts of the body with her hands, the finger of her right hand points to the clearly visible nipple .

iconography

The varied view of the bust leads to a narrative structure that builds up as you walk around the work. For example, it can only be seen from a certain angle that one of the breasts is uncovered.

The arm position adapts the gesture of Venus pudica , the "shameful Venus". This type of image, which comes from ancient art, is often found in depictions of Venus or Aphrodite who cover their breasts or their genital organs with their hands. This gesture draws the viewer's attention to the respective body region, but at the same time indicates a feeling of shame on the part of the sitter. This representation method chosen by Chinard underpins the love of antiquity of the time, but also the idealization of Madame Récamier, who is equated in this way with the goddess of love Venus. Although portrait busts with arms were rather uncommon at the beginning of the 19th century, there are historical depictions that Chinard could have used for orientation. One example is the marble bust of Lady with a Bouquet by Andrea del Verrocchio in the Bargello in Florence. Joseph Chinard spent a study visit there.

The bust of Julie Récamier contains several other references to Roman mythology . The bundle of arrows in her hair is a reference to Cupid , the personification of love . The cupids on the chaise longue also allow this association . The hairstyle was also called the head of Titus and was an important part of the fashion à la grecque in the Directoire .

  • Lady with the Bouquet by Andrea del Verrocchio, 1475, Bargello in Florence.

  • Aphrodite of Menophantos, 1st century BC BC, Museo nazionale romano di Palazzo Massimo, Rome.

  • Capitoline Venus, Capitoline Museums, Rome.

Versions

Joseph Chinard, who from 1805 also lived with Julie Récamier and her husband Jacques-Rose Récamier in Paris' Rue Basse-du-Rempart, made several portrait busts of Juliette Récamier between 1795 and 1812. The following representations are attributed to him:

Bronze bust with hood

The earliest bust that Chinard made of Julie Récamier was created in 1796; it is not signed. It was in the collection of Count de Penha-Longa in Paris and was sold in 1911 in the Georges Petit gallery in Paris. The whereabouts of the bust is unknown.

Painted plaster bust in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon

The plaster bust in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon (Inv.-No .: A2961) was made in 1798. It is unsigned and unsigned and measures 72 × 36 × 25.5 cm. It was originally owned by Clémence Sophie de Sermézy, a student of Joseph Chinard. The bust was later owned by M. de Beaufort and was donated to the Museum in Lyon in 1864.

Terracotta bust in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

The terracotta bust in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Inv.-No. 88.SC.42) was created in 1801/1802, it measures 63.2 × 32.4 × 24.1 cm. The work comes from a private collection in Paris.

Bust of Juliette Récamier, in the Bode Museum, Berlin, 1801–1805

Terracotta bust in the Bode Museum, Berlin

A terracotta bust by Julie Récamier is in the Bode Museum in Berlin (inv.no. M216). The image measures 56 × 33 × 26 cm and was acquired from the Berlin art trade in 1957. Its creation is dated between 1801 and 1805. It is not signed, but with “Mme. Récamier ”. The provenance of the bust is largely unknown; it is said to have come from the possession of the Hohenzollern family. This version is the only bust that does not have a base. From this, Ernst Heinrich Zimmermann , who was director of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, today's Bode-Museum between 1937 and 1957, concluded that it was the original model for a marble bust created later. However, this is questioned in more recent publications. From a 1977 letter from Christian Theuerkauff, at that time chief curator of the sculpture gallery, to Berthold Fricke of the Knorr & Hirth publishing house in Hanover, it emerges that the museum has a "clay variant based on the Lyon bust". Theuerkauff is skeptical of the assessment that the bust is an original.

Marble bust in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon

The marble bust in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon was created in the period 1804–1808 and bears Chinard's signature. From the possession of Julie Récamier's father, the work passed into the possession of Joseph-François-Marie Simonard, who bequeathed it to his daughter in 1867. The museum in Lyon bought the bust in 1909 (inventory no. B.871). Its dimensions are 80 × 42.5 × 30.5 cm, making it significantly larger than the plaster and terracotta models. Another unsigned marble version of this bust is in Bologna.

Marble bust in the Rhode Island School of Design Museum

Another marble bust of Julie Récamier is in the Rhode Island School of Design Museum (Inv.No. 37.201). It was created in the years 1810–1811 and measures 56.5 × 33 × 25.4 cm. Unlike all other busts, this version has been cut below the collarbones and therefore has neither arms nor torso. Instead, it ends in a round chest section just below the neck. On the plinth below, the bust is labeled "Chinard de Lyon".

The marble bust was in her living room on Rue de Sevres in Paris until Julie Récamier's death in 1849. A note by Chinard from 1808 states that the bust was also shown in her drawing room. It can only be about the salon from 1803, as the catalog is missing from that year. The bust is not listed in any of the other catalogs. After Récamier's death, the bust passed into the possession of Madame Lenormant, the niece and adopted daughter of Julie Récamier. In 1893 Mme. Lenormant organized a sale of her aunt's property, where the Marquis de Gontaut-Biron acquired the bust and later sold it to the United States. The buyer was the American Harold Brown, who donated the bust to the Rhode Island School of Design in 1937.

There is no reference to the abbreviation in Julie Récamier's letters. According to Madame Lenormant, Julie Récamier is said to have found the bust too sensational one day and arranged for it to be edited afterwards. However, this is only an oral transmission that is not documented in writing. The question of the reason for the changed presentation gave rise to much discussion and speculation. Although the detail of the bust is not identical to the marble bust that the father owned in Lyon, experts assume, based on the stylistic features, that both works are by Joseph Chinard. The French art historian Louis Gonse was of the opinion that the bust was designed to be shortened from the beginning and was implemented accordingly by Chinard. Other experts conclude that the bust must have been cropped after 1828 and that the signature was forged. For example, the relationship between the base and the bust, which is unusual for Chinard's style, speaks for this.

Authorship

Since Joseph Chinard only signed his marble busts, the trimmed marble bust having a special status in the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, the attribution of the unsigned plaster busts is often unclear. The terracottas are not signed, just inscribed “Mme. Recamier ”, so also the version in the Berlin Bode Museum.

To this day, numerous plaster and marble versions that do not come from Chinard's hand are offered on the art market. This fact illustrates the popularity of the representation in large parts of the western world.

reception

Over the centuries, Julie Récamier's representation and reception have been idealized again and again. In literature, special emphasis is often placed on their supposed beauty. The social and intellectual qualities that she had as a salonnière are often neglected. Nicolaus Sombart describes Julie Récamier as a classic beauty, as an “epiphany of the divine”, but at the same time “naive and primitive”. The encounter with her is a "transcendental experience". This transfigured classification of her person is fueled by numerous erotic depictions in busts and other portraits.

Joseph Chinard chose a childlike, sensual and at the same time erotic depiction of Julie Récamier for his busts. He consciously associated these with the love god Amor and depictions of Venus through sculptural tricks. If one looks at other representations of her person, hardly any similarities can be found. That speaks in favor of a strong orientation towards the fashion and style of the respective time, less towards an orientation towards characteristic facial features or physical features of the sitter.

literature

  • Peter Bloch: Portrait bust of Madame Récamier. In: ders .: Bildwerke 1780–1910. From the holdings of the Sculpture Gallery and the National Gallery. Berlin 1990, pp. 9-10.
  • Alexander Dorner: Portrait Bust of Mme. Recamier. In: Rhode Island School of Design. Bulletin XXVI, 3rd 1938.
  • Willy Günther Schwark: Portrait busts of Joseph Chinard. In: Kunst und Künstler: Illustrierte monthly for fine arts and applied arts, 30, 1931.
  • Willy Günther Schwark: The classic portraits (1801–1805). In: The portraits of Chinard, Berlin. 1937.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Schwark, Willy Günther: The classic portraits (1801-1805) . In: The portraits of Chinard . Berlin 1937, p. 47 f .
  2. ↑ JOSEPH CHINARD DE LYON: COMPTE DE PENHA-LONGA 1911 AUCTION, HELIOGRAVURE PLATES. Accessed August 2, 2020 .
  3. ↑ A 2961 Juliette Récamier. Accessed August 2, 2020 (French).
  4. ↑ a b c d e Peter Bloch: Portrait bust of Madame Récamier . In: Bildwerke 1780-1910. From the holdings of the Sculpture Gallery and the National Gallery . Berlin 1990, p. 10 .
  5. ^ Sophie Picot-Bocquillon: Juliette Récamier confrontée à son image ou la stratégie d'une femme de goût . In: Juliette Récamier, muse et mécène. Exhibition catalog of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon . Hazan 2009, p. 1 f .
  6. ↑ Bust of Juliette Récamier (1777--1849) (Getty Museum). Retrieved August 3, 2020 .
  7. ^ J. Paul Getty Museum (ed.): The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal . tape 17 . Los Angeles 1989.
  8. ↑ SMB digital | Portrait of Juliette Recamier. Retrieved July 5, 2020 .
  9. ^ E. Heinrich Zimmermann: Joseph Chinards terracotta bust by Mme. Récamier . In: Berlin museums . tape 7 . Berlin 1957, p. 42-47 .
  10. ↑ elegant // expressive. From Houdon to Rodin. 19th century French sculpture . In: Nina Trauth, Sigmar Holsten (Hrsg.): Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe . Kehrer, Heidelberg 2007, p. 92-94 .
  11. ^ Correspondence dated June 13, 1977, archive of the Bode Museum Berlin.
  12. ↑ Juliette Récamier | Musée des Beaux Arts. Retrieved August 2, 2020 .
  13. ↑ a b c d e Alexander Dorner: Portrait Bust of Mme. Recamier . In: Rhode Island School of Design . Bulletin XXVI, No. 3 . Rhode Island 1938, p. 13 f .
  14. ↑ PANOPTICON DI BOLOGNA - Uno sguardo ai luoghi. Retrieved August 11, 2020 .
  15. ^ Louis Gonse: La Sculpture Française depuis le XIVe siecle . Ed .: Librairies-imprimeries réunies. 1895, p. 263 f .
  16. ↑ BUST OF MADAME RECAMIER, based on models by J. CHINARD (Jos.Retrieved July 15, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Auction CHINARD d'après Buste de Madame Récamier, Marbre ... Accessed July 15, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Bust, Frau Recamier - 61 cm (1) - terracotta - early 20th century. Retrieved July 15, 2020 .
  19. ^ Willis J. Abbot: Women of History; the Lives of Women Who in All Ages, All Lands and in All Womanly Occupations Have Won Fame and Put Their Imprint on the World's History . Forgotten Books, 1913, pp. 232 .
  20. ↑ Nicolaus Sombart: About the "beautiful woman" - the male view of the female body . Elster Verlag, Zurich 1999, p. 81 f .

Web links

Commons : Bust of Madame Récamier by Joseph Chinard  - Collection of images, videos and audio files