The beautiful woman Imperia
|
| The beautiful woman Imperia |
|---|
| Lovis Corinth , 1925 |
| oil on wood |
| 75 × 48 cm |
| Privately owned |
The beautiful woman Imperia is a painting by the German painter Lovis Corinth from 1925. It is accordingly one of the last paintings by the artist, who died on July 17, 1925. Shown is a scene from the story The beautiful Imperia (French: La belle Impéria ) from the maddened stories of the French writer Honoré de Balzac .
The 75 × 48 cm painting had been in the possession of his daughter Wilhelmine Corinth in New York City since Corinth's death .
Image description
In the center of the portrait format, slightly next to the center of the picture, stands the naked woman Imperia. With the exception of the left foot, it is shown in full frontal view, the right leg is slightly bent and shows a red shoe on the foot. The right arm is slightly stretched out from the body and adorned with a bracelet on the wrist and another on the upper arm. The left arm, also provided with a hoop, is bent and stretched out towards a dark figure standing at the edge of the picture. Imperia's eyes are fixed on this figure, her mouth is slightly open.
The figure on the right edge of the picture looks directly at the naked woman. She wears a dark robe and purple sash, such as those worn by clergymen. Behind the woman Imperia, several other, only indistinctly depicted women can be seen wearing long dresses and jewelry. The room itself cannot be seen, the background is formed by red areas of color in which lights are indicated with yellow.
background
The story The beautiful Imperia (French: La belle Impéria , Honoré de Balzac) comes from the collection of Tolldreisten stories (French original title Les contes drolatiques ), which were published in 1832, 1833 and 1837. Lovis Corinth, who already created a collection of eleven lithographs for the work Les contes drolatiques , dedicated this painting to her in 1925.
The story is about a young clergyman named Philip of Mala, who worked as an apprentice to the Archbishop of Bordeaux and accompanied him to the Council of Constance (1414-1418). Although he had sworn to behave as a pious pastor, "he soon saw that male visitors to the same God-learned councils led a relaxed life and also received more indulgences, gold florins and benefices than pious virtuosos." He decided to do the same to behave like that, however, did not dare to address the prostitutes . After he was told that the ladies were available for money, “one evening he rushed like a fiery stag into the most beautiful house in town, before he had seen so many stewards, officers or pages of their masters waiting by the torchlight “ And was also admitted because the guard thought he was a servant. So he came into the room of Frau Imperia, the mistress of the house, who “surrounded by nimble maids, took off her robes. Amazed like a caught thief, he stopped. Already the lady was without a skirt and bodice and soon she was standing there without a shell in splendid, graceful nakedness, so that the happy little Pfäfflein a loving 'Aah!' escaped. "
In his painting Corinth depicts the scene in which Imperia speaks to the pastor and realizes that he has very beautiful eyes. The naked Imperia stands, surrounded by her maids, across from the pastor while he stares at her body. In the further course the Imperia falls in love with the young pastor and invites him to come to her for the following day, when it comes to entanglements with high-ranking spiritual suitors .
Classification in the work of Corinth
Lovis Corinth dealt with Balzac's Tolldreisten stories as early as 1913 and created a series of 11 lithographs for this collection of stories. Ms. Imperia was not featured in this series.
Corinth completed the beautiful Frau Imperia as the last painting before his trip to Amsterdam , where he fell ill with pneumonia, from which he finally died in Zandvoort in the Netherlands. According to his wife, Corinth is still working on this picture in the sick bed in Amsterdam, and he recommended that his family take care of it. He said to her, "It's a good picture."
See also
Compare also the main articles Imperia Cognati on the real model of the literary figure Balzac and courtesans in Rome under the Renaissance popes .
literature
- Peter-Klaus Schuster , Christoph Vitali, Barbara Butts (Eds.): Lovis Corinth . Prestel, Munich 1996, pp. 315-316. ISBN 3-7913-1645-1 .
- Charlotte Berend-Corinth : Lovis Corinth: The paintings . Revised by Béatrice Hernad. Bruckmann, Munich 1992, BC 970e, p. 204. ISBN 3-7654-2566-4 .
Web links
- Honoré de Balzac: The beautiful Imperia . Berlin [o. J.], pp. 10-25. Full text of the story at Zeno.org.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Quotes from Honoré de Balzac: The beautiful Imperia . Berlin [o. J.], pp. 10-25. Full text of the story at Zeno.org.
- ↑ Black: . 3rd edition, 1985; Pp. 93-95.
- ^ Charlotte Berend-Corinth : Lovis Corinth: The paintings . Revised by Béatrice Hernad. Bruckmann Verlag, Munich 1992; BC 970e, p. 204. ISBN 3-7654-2566-4 .