Georges-antoine Rochegrosse (versailles, 1859 – El Biar, 1938) - Hortorum Deus

Georges-Antoine ROCHEGROSSE
(Versailles, 1859 – El Biar, 1938)
Hortorum Deus
Illustration for the third sonnet by José-Maria de Heredia, Les Trophées
Circa 1913–1914
Watercolor on paper
Signed lower right: G. Rochegrosse
H. 35.5 – W. 26 cm.



Ecce villicus / Venit… — CATULLUS.

Hey there, you damned children! Watch out for the trap, the pitfall,
The dog! I, who guard this place, will no longer
Tolerate anyone coming, under the pretense of seeking a clove
Of garlic, to plunder my fruit trees and pilfer my grapes.

Besides, over there, from deep within the stubble he’s clearing,
The tenant is watching you, and if he comes—by my stake!
Your back will then feel the full weight of a god
Carved from hard wood and wielded by a man’s striking arm.

Quickly, take the path to the left, follow it
To the end of the hedge where that beech tree grows, and there
Take advantage of the advice whispered in your ear.
A careless Priapus dwells in the neighboring orchard;

From here, you can see the pillars of his trellis
Where, in the shade of the vine, the grapes have turned red.

It was with his Orientalist vision, his keen sensitivity to antiquity, and his eye for historical detail that the artist Georges-Antoine Rochegrosse illustrated José-Maria de Heredia’s famous collection of poems, *Les Trophées*. 

The scene illustrates the third of the five sonnets that Heredia dedicated, under the title Hortorum Deus, to Priapus, the guardian god of gardens, in the section “Rome and the Barbarians ” of The Trophies (1893). In it, the god addresses a band of young marauders and ultimately whispers to them, as an accomplice, to go plunder the vineyard of a more careless Priapus in the neighboring vineyard. Rochegrosse captures the moment just before this address. He enriches his depiction with details drawn from the entire cycle: the fig tree from which the idol was carved, according to the first sonnet, which echoes a line from Horace (Olim truncus eram ficulnus); its vermilion color; the flowers with which her devotees adorn her sheath; and finally, the “fruits and salads” she is charged with guarding.

Our watercolor is based on the etching by Eugène Decisy for the large illustrated edition of *Les Trophées* published by Ferroud in 1914. The composition is reproduced exactly, down to the signature, and the inscription on the plate bears the word *pinxit*, indicating a painted work. Printed in an edition of five hundred copies and adorned with more than thirty compositions by Rochegrosse, this edition is considered the finest illustration of the collection.

The adopted son of the poet Théodore de Banville and a student of Jules Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger, Georges-Antoine Rochegrosse made a name for himself in the 1880s as a history painter before evolving toward Symbolist and Orientalist themes. Introduced to literary circles by Banville, he was one of the most sought-after illustrators of bibliophile books of his time, particularly for Ferroud, for whom he illustrated Flaubert’s *Hérodias* as early as 1892. Settling in El Biar, in the hills above Algiers, in 1910, he painted the Mediterranean light that bathes our garden. With its colorful shadows, the free brushwork of the foliage, and the mauves laid upon the stones of the wall, the sheet attests to his mastery of watercolor—a skill that black-and-white engraving could only partially convey.