Charles Landelle - La Source - Large Drawing - Preparatory Study Salon Painting 1880 -

Charles LANDELLE
The Source
Preparatory study for the painting from the 1880 Salon, now at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims
Charcoal drawing, stump and gouache on paper
30 x 42 cm.
Stamp of the studio at the bottom right (Lugt L.4647)

Our large sheet prepares the painting presented by Landelle from the 1880 Salon, a work out of competition and number 1099 in the catalog. The painting represents the Fontanas spring in Auvergne and uses the classic iconography of allegories of a spring: a reclining nude woman holding a large jar pouring water under her arm.

It is interesting to note the differences between the study and the final work. The face in the drawing, less in keeping with the canons of the time than the painted work, is of a more classical and less contemporary beauty. The white drape that highlights the woman's body in our drawing modestly covers it entirely in the final painting.

"Charles Landelle entered the École royale des Beaux-Arts in 1837, where he was a student of Paul Delaroche and Ary Scheffer. He made his debut at the Salon in 1841 and presented his Self-portrait (Laval, Musée du Vieux-Château). His career was a model of success and earned him a considerable fortune. His biography is punctuated by various successes: medals at the Salon, state commissions for religious and genre paintings (Napoleon III bought the Femme Fellah from him for his Château de Saint-Cloud), but also numerous portraits, decorations for public and civil buildings (e.g. the Jewelry Room at the Louvre Museum, the Aides-de-Camp Room at the Élysée Palace, Laval Town Hall), or religious subjects (e.g. the Saint-Joseph Chapel in the Saint-Sulpice Church in Paris). Landelle was awarded the Legion of Honour (1855) and was also a member of several Fine Arts Academies.

His travels took him to England, among other places, with Théophile Gautier and Gérard de Nerval; to Italy, to Morocco with Baron Aymé d'Aquinet; to Egypt with the Egyptologist Mariette Pacha and to Algeria. A retrospective exhibition was dedicated to him at the Musée de Laval in 1987. His stamp was probably affixed at the time of the sale of his studio in 1908. »

SALE
1908, December 3-4, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit (Me Baudoin). Charles Landelle Studio. Paintings, studies, pastels, watercolors, drawings from his studio and his private collection of paintings and art objects and furnishings. Notice by C. Struienski, his nephew and universal legatee, and extract from his will. Proceeds 103,099 francs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
- C. Stryienski, Une carrière d'artiste au XIXe siècle. Charles Landelle 1821-1908, Paris 1911.
- Laval 1987: Charles Landelle (1821-1908). Retrospective exhibition, cat. by D. Pillon and Ch. Schaettel, Laval, Musée du Vieux-Château and Chapelle Saint-Julien, 1987.