Sketch Of Angelica Or Selene

1870, pen and brown ink “Art represents a refuge, an ideal of peace, tranquility, a haven of security, and must therefore exclude any reference to reality. He delights in the exaltation of works that magnify mythological and allegorical scenes, paintings of religious life, or the heroism of battles. The Venuses are countless; Diana and Narcissus stimulate inspiration. » Monique Sergé, L'art comme Institution, 1993. Guided by an intimate perception of beauty as well as by an exacerbated dreamlike power, the production of many artists of the 19th century often resulted in the creation of human stereotypes, and in particular very feminine stereotypes. personal. This was, among others, the case of Ingres, Chassériau, Puvis de Chavannes, Gustave Moreau, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, as well as Edward-Burne Jones. Having thus decided to submit reality to the ideal of their art, one frequently recognizes there the variations that have become famous from one work to another. Whether it is combined with a spiritual mysticism among the Nazarenes and the Pre-Raphaelites or more purely plastic, as with most of the so-called "Firefighters" painters, the excellence of their technique, the smoothness of the colors and the elegant languor of the poses contribute to the materialization of a paroxysmal aesthetic pleasure. We also find in the work of Jules Machard this feminine canon typical of the artist which is embodied over the course of his painted work through the mythological figures of Angélique (Ill.3) and Selene (Ills 1 and 2 ). If the painfully human destiny of the first is opposed to the immutable serenity of the goddess, we find plastically in both of them this same love of the artist for the clean line, the blondness of the long hair floating in the wind and slender, harmonious feminine curves with an elegant arch. Ill.1. Jules Machard, Séléné, 1874-1878, High smooth tapestry, wool & silk, 365 x 263 cm, commissioned by the Manufacture des Gobelins, Paris, Mobilier National. Typical of Machard's lively graphic writing, our delightful little pen sketch, depicting a naked woman with her face turned towards the sky and her arms drawn along her body, does not seem to be directly attached to one (Ill.1 ) or to the other (Ill.2) of these painted works. However, it is part of the crossroads of two states, of two sketches, thus becoming the precious testimony of the creative process of the artist, whose spirit always moves between ideal and artistic materialization, celestial world & terrestrial world.