Portrait Of Daniel Schlumberger At Age 34 In 1913

French School, early 20th century
Portrait of Daniel Schlumberger at age 34
Pastel
H. 99.5 cm; W. 63.5 cm
Titled and dated lower right
1913

The Schlumberger family, of Protestant tradition, was an important player in the textile industry in Alsace during the 19th century. Léon Théodore Daniel (1879-1915) was one of the six children of Paul Schlumberger (1846-1926) and Marguerite de Witt (granddaughter of François Guizot), who continued their industrial activity as best they could during the German occupation from 1871. Jean (1877-1968) was a writer and publisher; Conrad (1878-1936) and Marcel (1884-1953) were scientists who made their fortunes in the oil industry; Maurice (1886-1977) was a banker. The brothers also had a sister, Pauline (1883-1973). Like his brothers, Daniel was born in Guebwiller, and like them, he left his hometown out of patriotism in 1894. He then led the life of a farmer on the family estate of Val-Richer, near Lisieux in Normandy, acquired by his great-grandfather François Guizot in 1836. André Gide, a neighbor and friend of the family, wrote about him in 1904: "Young Daniel is currently suffering from a worrying moral illness; he cannot and will not will; this is called aboulia, and it is very serious; He sits in an armchair like an old man and is no longer interested in anything except, from time to time, hunting… we try to get her to travel… we look for ways to entertain her…”. Daniel confirmed his attachment to Alsace by marrying Fanny de Turckheim (1880-1965) in 1907 in Dachstein, Bas-Rhin, where their daughter Antoinette (1908-1994) was born. Probably wounded during the First World War, while serving as a brigadier in the 13th Artillery Regiment, he committed suicide on June 17, 1915, in Boulogne-Billancourt. Fanny was the sister-in-law of the actress Charlotte de Turckheim's paternal great-grandfather. Looking at photos of her brothers, the family resemblance is quite striking. In contrast, Daniel is only 1.62 m tall, which his slender physique and elegant, relaxed pose in our pastel do not suggest. But the sitter also possesses a certain stiffness that led the future politician Eugène Rouart, a friend of Gide, to remark, "He looks too much like a German." The Schlumbergers, like many prominent families of the time, were quite connected to the artistic world. Jean's wife, Suzanne Weyher, was herself a painter and a student of Van Rysselberghe, some of whose portraits are stylistically quite similar to ours.