Marshal De La Ferté-seneterre - Lucien Melingue 1841-1889

Dimensions at sight Length: 22.2 cm Height: 32 cm Dimensions with frame Length: 32 cm Height: 41.5 cm Signature Bottom left Dated, 1887 This small painting, 32 X 22.2 cm at sight, is in fact the detail of a canvas, moreover, barely larger* presented at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1879, and immediately acquired by the city of Belfort where it appears in the hall of honor of the Hôtel de Ville.
This work bears the long title of Le Maréchal de la Ferté seizing Belfort, defended by the Comte de la Suze, and definitively reuniting this city with France, 1654. Henri de Seneterre was born in 1599, in a family of the old nobility of the Auvergne sword. His ancestors had valiantly provided the Royalty with numbers of heroes killed in battle, a Marshal and Minister of State. Henri de la Ferté-Seneterre in turn led a brilliant military career which earned him, at the end of the battle of Rocroi, where, commanding the French left wing, he had received 4 severe wounds, and five days later the death of Louis XIII, May 19, 1643, the title of governor of the Duchy of Lorraine. Made like his ancestor Marshal of France on January 5, 1651, he obtained the surrender of Belfort on February 23, 1654. Two years later, he was made a prisoner in Valenciennes, but Louis XIV paid his ransom. Lucien Mélingue, who no doubt had been able to admire the canvas of his colleague Heim at the Palace of Versailles, portrayed a Marshal of France in all the splendor of his heroic act. His white plume just like his marshal's baton in blue enamel adorned with gold fleur-de-lis ** imposes his stature as an omnipotent commander. We only see the glory and the valor of the leader fulfilled by victory. And we forget a little… completely, that throughout his career, Henri de la Ferté-Seneterre moved away strongly at times from the chivalrous ideal of his ancestors, by looting and ravaging the lands he subjected… Lucien Melingue did not paint much, and most of his paintings are in museums. This oil on panel is therefore exceptional, and represents the detail of a canvas exhibited in the Town Hall of Belfort. In 1873, the famous art critic Jules CLARÉTIE wrote in his foreword to the 1873 salon*** "I am twice happy to point them out [Gaston and Lucien], and to see that the name of Mélingue is strong well worn by those who inherit it. The powerful and romantic painting of Lucien pleases the public and the critics. The panache that his father had on stage, he had it on the canvas. A time freed from his studio in rue Levert, Lucien returned to it on the death of his father. The whirling actor, the tireless sculptor, the unfailing friend, the generous artist who had founded, with his friend Paul de Kock****, a home for old theater artists, rue de la Vilette***** .

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