Diapositive 1 - Musée Jacquemart

Musée Jacquemart-André
Paris
DÉSIRS & VOLUPTÉ
Victorian masterpieces from the Pérez Simón collection
Alma-Tadema, Burne-Jones, Leighton…
13 September 2013 – 20 January 2014
Under the patronage of the British Ambassador to France, Sir Peter Ricketts
For the first time in France, the Désirs & Volupté exhibition at the Jacquemart-André Museum invites the
general public to discover famous British artists of the reign of Queen Victoria, among them Sir Lawrence
Alma-Tadema (1836-1912), Sir Frederic Leighton (1830-1896), Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) and Albert
Moore (1841-1893). The fifty paintings exhibited reflect the common desire of the artists to pay homage
to the “cult of beauty” .
As the leading world power in the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901), Great Britain paved the way for
extensive economic and social upheaval. The artists expressed a sensual aesthetic with paintings offering a
sharp contrast to the severity and moralising attitudes of the day: a return to Antiquity, interest in the nude,
sumptuous decorative paintings, poetic as well as literary expression with medieval topics, a legacy from
the Pre-Raphaelites.
The very essence of these artists’ work, who made beauty an absolute and an art of living, was to seek
aesthetical beauty. Women were the main subject of this artistic style known as the “Aesthetic Movement”.
Their bodies were no longer hampered as they were in everyday life but naked, symbolising a form of
sensuous pleasure and feminine desire. Portrayed in a reinvented living environment, women are
transformed into heroines from Antiquity or medieval times. Nature in all its abundance and sumptuous
palaces serve as decors for these sublime, lascivious, sensual, amorous, kindly or evil women. Painting
becomes a waking dream, with an abundance of symbols.
The paintings on show at the Jacquemart-André Museum, some of which are true icons of British art (The
Roses of Heliogabalus by Alma-Tadema, Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles by the Sea by Leighton, The Quartet
by Albert Moore, Andromeda by Poynter, etc.), are part of one of the most important private collections of
Victorian paintings: the Pérez Simón collection .
Painters Lawrence Alma Tadema, Edward Burne Jones, John William Godward, Frederick Goodall, Arthur
Hughes, Talbot Hughes, Frederic Leighton, Edwin Long, John Everett Millais, Albert Moore, Henry Payne,
Charles Edward Perugini, Edward John Poynter, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Emma Sandys, Simeon Solomon,
John Strudwick, John William Waterhouse and William Clarke Wontner, emblematic of this Victorian
period are represented through this exhibition.
An international exhibition: Paris, Rome, Madrid…
The Désirs & Volupté exhibition to be held at the Jacquemart-André Museum from 13 September 2013 to 20
January 2014 will then move on to the Chiostro del Bramante, Rome, from 15 February to 5 June and
afterwards to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, from 23 June to 5 October 2014.
TOUR OF THE EXHIBITION
At a time when British museums are rediscovering their Victorian painting collections, the Jacquemart-André
Museum has also chosen to pay tribute to the great artists of this period through their celebration of
feminine beauty. Offering a wide overview of British painting from the 1860s until the eve of the First World
War, they all come from the Pérez Simón collection, which contains one of the finest panoramas of privately
owned Victorian art.
Room 1 - Antiquity revisited
Centred on the emblematic figure of Lawrence Alma-Tadema, the first room in the exhibition reflects the
strong enthusiasm for Antiquity shared by the Victorian élite. Thriving on extensive classical culture, the
upper middle classes of the time had a passion for the archaeological discoveries made in Greece and Italy.
The finest pieces arrived to enrich the British Museum collections and delight the London public. The extreme
refinement of the decors revealed by the major excavation sites in Rome and Pompeii nurtured nostalgia for
a golden age, an ancient world full of luxury and pleasure in landscapes enshrouded in sunlight. The artists
who sought to bring this fantasy ancient world to life were therefore very successful.
As a result, Alma-Tadema became a favourite with collectors and was the most successful painter of his era.
Of Dutch origin, he trained in Belgium where he acquired a taste for precision. He discovered Pompeii in 1863
and developed an enthusiasm for this new repertoire reflecting Antiquity that he reproduced to perfection
(Returning Home from Market 1865), influenced by the French academicism and, above all by Jean-Léon
Gérôme whom he met in Paris in 1864. Noticed by the very active Ernest Gambart, a Belgian dealer based in
London, Alma-Tadema left Brussels for London in 1870.
Thanks to the historic accuracy of his reconstitutions, his sense of theatre and taste for decorative details,
he was quickly very successful among the Victorian élite, captivated by the elegance and refinement of his
paintings. He thus became one of the most active members of artistic society in London. While he mostly
painted small size for the middle-class interiors of his contemporaries (Greek Wine, 1873), Alma-Tadema also
painted a few exceptionally large paintings for his richest customers from 1885 onwards (The Roses of
Heliogabalus, 1888).
Alma-Tadema stands out for the clarity of his compositions and his impressive technique. Whether
representing episodes from history (Agrippina with the Ashes of Germanicus, 1866) to daily life (An Exedra,
1871), he constructed very structured scenes, playing on architecture and areas of shadow and light. A
virtuoso, he devoted particular attention to the effect achieved when laying down paint and his ability to
depict the brilliance of marble or the transparency of alabaster is unsurpassed (The Question, 1877 and An
Earthly Paradise, 1891). With The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888), he painted a masterpiece, the power of
which resides in the combination of extensively rich decoration with strong dramatic tension.
Room 2 - Classical beauty
While Alma-Tadema successfully made use of a repertoire depicting Antiquity, other painters, such as
Frederick Goodall (1822-1904) also devoted themselves to this theme, choosing to place representation of
woman at the core of their artistic work. Their interest in Antiquity which they discovered during travel in
Greece or Italy was reflected in their painting by a search for formal perfection.
While Alma-Tadema was excited by Greek and Roman Antiquity, Goodall’s passion was Ancient Egypt,
discovered during a stay in Cairo from 1858-1859. He returned there in 1870-1871 and his entire career was
to be dominated by the representation of scenes from Egyptian life, nurtured with historic or biblical
references. The Finding of Moses, which accurately depicts the architecture and decor of Egyptian temples as
well as the flora and fauna of the Nile, is a magnificent example of his painting.
With their work echoing the theoretical debates taking place on the British artistic scene of the time, Frederic
Leighton and Albert Moore stand out for the force and beauty of their compositions.
Frederic Leighton occupies a unique position among the artists of his generation. After training in Germany
and Rome, he spent three years in Paris. Much impressed by the art of Ingres and academic painting in
Europe, his work was entirely devoted to the search of formal beauty. He drew inspiration from a classical
repertoire for his Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles by the Sea (1871), giving them a canon reminiscent of Roman
scultpure. The dancing rhythm of his composition, the folds of fabric artificially lifted by the wind and the
clever use of soft colours accentuate the decorative scope of the painting. In Antigone (c.1882), the palette is
thicker. The artist emphasizes the sculptural nature of the composition by the twist of the bust and neck,
giving the representation strong tragic intensity, directly inspired by classical Roman sculpture.
A solitary figure, Albert Moore was first of all influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Extensive study of
Greek and Roman sculpture in the British Museum led him in around 1865 to develop a purely decorative
style of painting, inspired by the Greco-Roman antiquity but without overly seeking historic truth. Drawing
inspiration from Greek sculpture models, he upheld “art for art’s sake” and painted women with supple
bodies, clothed in diaphanous drapes, emphasising their harmonious proportions (Shells, 1875). With the
Quartet (1868), he devised his canvas as a painter’s tribute to music and, in an unusual manner, associated a
Greek background with contemporary instruments. He thus developed an intellectual approach to painting,
giving his composition a musical rhythm, visually suggesting a score and musical harmony.
Room 3 - Muses and Models
Despite the considerable influence of themes, the artists’ inspiration came also from the women, muses or
models in their immediate circle.
Burne-Jones was part of the second Pre-Raphaelite movement but quickly set himself apart. Strongly
inspired early on by literature, the artist cultivated a very personal style and a pronounced taste for English
beauties with red hair, chiselled faces and long, graceful figures. This British charm had greatly captivated
the Pre-Raphaelites and remained very popular with artists, as can be seen by the milky skin and leonine hair
of the dreaming woman represented by Emma Sandys (1843-1876).
The figure of Pygmalion, to which Burne-Jones devoted several works, became an allegory of the artist for
whom the ideal woman is one who inspires him, poses for him and is reinvented by him on canvas. Bessie
Keene was one of the most important models for Burne-Jones. In the early sixties, he also used his wife
Georgiana as the model as can be seen in Fatima. This practically unknown painting concentrated many of
the sources of inspiration of Burne-Jones: the young woman with red hair and a very youthful face is wearing
a Renaissance style dress, not unlike those that Burne-Jones discovered during his stay in Venice. True to his
taste for a blend of the sublime and macabre, here the artist is illustrating the story of Bluebeard. He has
grasped the crucial moment when the young girl is about to open the forbidden door. The soft calm of her
face further highlights the dramatic power of the scene and arouses fear in the spectator, who knows how
many bodies the young wife is about to discover.
Salle 4 - Femmes fatales
A topic developed by Burne-Jones and the Pre-Raphaelites, the subject of the femme fatale, captivating,
cruel, falsely ingenuous but a true enchantress is a frequent theme in British literature, starting with
Shakespeare and brought back into fashion with the Gothic novel and poems of Tennyson. In painting, it
was at its peak at the very end of the century, with its greatest representative, John William Waterhouse
(1849-1917).
In the mid-1880s, Waterhouse endeavoured to revive Pre-Raphaelite themes, without however adopting
their technique and keeping to a more academic approach. Fascinated by the myth of enchantresses, he
created a very specific type of feminine beauty, with a long, angular face, slanting eyes and thick hair kept in
place with a band. He used this feminine archetype in over thirty paintings, the subjects of which are drawn
from Medieval literature, from Antiquity and medieval literature to Shakespeare. The expression of the girl,
always distant, reflects the ambiguity of the character. In The Love Philtre, the woman, probably Medea, is
questioning the spectator as she pours the poison into the cup. This sketch for a painting now lost, exhibited
at the Royal Academy in 1914, reflects the combination of an eminently classical theme with a free, very
modern touch.
Room 5 - Romantic heroines
As well as in France, the Middle Ages were a subject very much in fashion in British 19th century literature,
both in the Walter Scott’s novels (1771-1832) and in the lyrical poetry of Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892). In the
1850s, the Pre-Raphaelites made British classical or contemporary literature one of their main sources of
inspiration. The artists of the next generation were, in turn, also to draw inspiration from it to develop a new
aesthetic repertoire.
John Everett Millais (1829-1896) was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. After the PreRaphaelite group split up, he remained true to some of their themes, giving a romantic feeling to his
compositions, such as in The Crown of Love (1875). Here, his subject is taken from a poem by George
Meredith (1828-1909) published in 1851, inspired by the tradition of courteous love. Millais, a great lover of
Scotland, situated this episode in a typically Scottish autumnal landscape which intensified the romantic
scope of the subject.
Alongside Millais, Arthur Hughes (1832-1915) enthusiastically adopted the artistic programme of the
members of the young Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood whom he met in 1850. Throughout his career, he
remained true to the subjects of the first generation of Pre-Raphaelites, such as the Arthurian tales. In 1862,
he took inspiration from The Marriage of Geraint, a poem by Tennyson, to paint Enid and Geraint which
relates the story of a knight at the Court of King Arthur who made a love match when he married the
daughter of a ruined lord.
Shakespearian plays were also a source of inspiration for Victorian artists. Choosing a verse from A
Midsummer Night’s Dream as the title, Talbot Hughes (1869-1842), in The Path of True Love Never Did Run
Smooth (1896) gave his work exceptional delicacy, both in the shades of colour used and the gracefully
melancholic aspect of the young woman.
Another “disciple” of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, John Melhuish Strudwick (1849-1937) maintained the
poetic approach at the core of the Pre-Raphaelite movement for an audience still interested in this type of
work. He drew inspiration from a poem by Tennyson to give a unique vision of the figure from King Arthur,
Elaine. But his sources of inspiration are varied and he also did not hesitate to dip into British 16th century
painting and contemporary music for his Song without Words (1875).
Room 6 - Ideal harmony
Strudwick worked for a long time in the studio of Burne-Jones. The two artists shared the same taste for
literary or allegoric figures and refined, poetic compositions. Strudwick worked on each of his paintings for a
very long time and favoured complex iconography (The Ramparts of God’s House, 1889).
While still influenced by the visual universe of Burne-Jones, Strudwick developed a very personal manner. He
adopted a technique characterised by a linear style, reminiscent of the first Florentine Renaissance, and by a
certain air of melancholy, almost palpable in In the Golden Days. He paid meticulous attention to detail,
particularly to the sumptuous drapery and refined accessories. He sometimes chose a rich, deep range of
colours but above all, liked to work with lighter shades, in a soft harmony of coloured greys.
Much appreciated in the Victorian era by critics as famous as George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Strudwick
remains forgotten for a long time before being rediscovered today by collectors, the most important of them
being Juan Antonio Pérez Simón. Shaw particularly admired Passing Days, an allegory of the ages of life. The
choice of subject, the melancholic, the impassibility of their characters and subtlety of the colours give this
very personal work a symbolic resonance profoundly universal.
Salle 7 - The delights of the nude
In the second half of the 19th century, the nude became a genre in its own right in English painting. The
greatest artists devoted themselves to it and, as a result, the nude stood as a veritable discipline and no
longer as a minor genre involving specialist painters. Paintings of naked women became prolific, mainly small
sized works and the paintings from the Pérez Simón collection reflect all the nuances of the genre.
The tutelary figure of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, Gabriel Dante Rossetti (1828-1882) drew his inspiration
more from Renaissance Italy for his Venus Verticordia (1867). This highly sensual feminine bust is not a
portrait but an allegory of seductive love, as shown by the apple and arrow, highlighted by the russet tones of
the pastel.
But the nudes were generally linked to the classical tradition and could take the form of an allegory or a
scene from daily life in Italy, Greece or the ancient Orient. After a stay in France, Edward John Poynter (18361919), very influenced by Ingres, created a break with his Andromeda (1869), whose body is seen entirely
naked.
With Crenaia, the Nymph of the Dargle (around 1880), Leighton, who had also spent time in Paris, once again
took up the idea of a female nude set against a landscape, developed by Ingres in his Source. While influenced
by this subject and by the formal translation proposed by French artists, he gives it a typically British touch. In
the tradition of the English nude started in around 1840, he gave a real face to this young red-headed woman
with a supple, sensual body, draped in long transparent pleats reminiscent of the movement of the water in
the background waterfall.
John William Godward (1861-1922) excels in this type of sensual representation (In the Tepidarium, 1913);
he favoured more intimate scenes where the full sensuality of the body is revealed.
Room 8 – The cult of beauty
In Victorian society, all women had to be accomplished housewives. The woman who represented the ideal
Beauty for this generation of artists, can only be seen in a universe dedicated to Beauty: her clothes, jewels
and living environment must, by their elegance and refinement, reflect and sublimate her graces and
virtues.
To meet the requirements of the industrial upper middle classes, architects designed and fitted out
sumptuous interiors. The ornamental abundance characteristic of these homes was echoed by the major
contemporary artists who, like Alma-Tadema or Leighton, decorated their houses with talent and profusion.
Elegantly clad and comfortably established in a magnificent décor, women escaped from daily life by dreams
and romantic passion. These themes of heartache, longing and melancholy offered artists the means to
combine poetry and painting by choosing a title for their works from quotations from Shakespeare or
contemporary poets. Arthur Hughes and Charles Edward Perugini (1839-1918) favoured contemporary
décors but Alma-Tadema on the other hand dreamed up imaginary interiors with a blend of ancient and
contemporary details. These deliberate anachronisms give all their charm to paintings such as Vain Courtship,
which, across the centuries, emphasises the eternal renaissance of romantic sentiment.
In a style close to that of Alma-Tadema, Godward also adapts the theme of feminine beauty to the classical
ideal. His works are characterized by the classically clean drawing, harmony of the bright colours and precise
way in which the paint is laid down (Classic Beauty, 1908 and Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder, 1912).
While Antiquity was still one of the major themes for Victorian artists, they also enjoyed exploring other
topics. The representation of women was still their main subject but with infinite variations. The magic of
the East attracted painters who yielded to its enchantment. Such as William Clarke Wontner (1857-1930)
with his Soz Player (1903), they depict British beauties with milky skin and sensual attire in sumptuous décors.
Literary society that dreamt of a fantasy world developed a passion for these highly decorative paintings.
***
Moving between reinvented Antiquity, medieval legends and eminently British interiors of great charm,
the major artists of Victorian England drew their inspiration from many sources but they all had one thing
in common – the celebration of feminine beauty. In their works, the many faces of woman were the
incarnation of all Victorian dreams.
BIOGRAPHY OF THE MAJOR PAINTERS INCLUDED IN THE EXHIBITION
Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Dronjip, the Netherlands, 1836 – Wiesbaden, Germany, 1912)
After achieving tremendous popularity in the late 19th century and then being heavily
criticised during much of the 20th century, Alma-Tadema’s work enjoy now a
spectacular renewed interest.
Dutch by birth, Lourens Tadema trained at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Art before
joining the studio of the Belgian painter and archeologist Louis De Taye, a specialist in
paintings of the medieval history of Belgium and the Netherlands. He then became apprenticed to Henri Leys,
one of the leading representatives of this historical and Romantic genre in line with the nationalistic
aspirations of the young Belgium. At this point in time, the young painter added the family name of his
godfather, Alma, to his surname to be well-positioned in catalogues.
His first visit to Italy in 1863, during which he visited Pompeii, his friendship with egyptologist, Georg Ebers
and his meeting in Paris with Jean-Léon Gérôme helped him to gradually expand his subject repertoire to
Greco-Roman topics. In particular, he excelled in the art of representing marble, wonderfully depicting its
veins and transparency. He subsequently made several visits to Italy, enabling him to build up a remarkable
collection of photographs of ancient remains and artefacts which nurtured the iconography of his paintings.
In 1870, he left Brussels and moved to London. Actively helped by the art dealer, Gambart, he soon achieved
an important position in the social life of London’s artistic elite. He took on British nationality in 1873 and
met with continued success in the annual exhibitions of London’s Royal Academy. His paintings which were
then totally oriented towards Greek and Roman Antiquity, fully corresponded to the classical style and
subjects of this institution, of which Leighton became the director in 1878: he was elected an associate in
1876 and an academician in 1879. He was knighted in 1899.
In the 1880s, he adapted his painting to the changes in taste, moving towards a slightly sentimental genre.
In settings reminiscent of Antiquity, it took on topics with sensual, near-erotic connotations. In the last
twenty years of his career, he turned towards portraits of personalities and theatre sets, giving free rein to his
interest in the decorative arts. His death coincided with the end of an era of which he experienced the initial
changes.
Frederic Leighton (Scarborough, Yorkshire, 1830 - London, 1896)
Leighton received an exceptional international training that was to influence his entire
work and contributed to giving him unique status among the painters of his
generation: he studied at the Städelsches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt-am-Main and under
Nazarene painter, Edward von Steinle. Although he soon moved away from this initial
influence, it gave him his first taste for historical subjects and opened up the doors to
Italy where he lived between 1852 and 1855. It was in Rome that he painted
his first major success, Cimabue‘s Madonna carried in Procession in the Streets of Florence (Royal Collection).
He then spent three years in Paris where, influenced by Ingres and artists of his generation, he devoted
himself to classical subjects and nudes. This training in Europe was further complemented by travels in
North Africa and the Middle East between 1857 and 1882, the decorative impact of which is clearly visible in
the design of his London home in Holland Park.
Leighton returned to London to live in 1859 and became friendly with painters Rossetti and Burne-Jones as
well as the writer John Ruskin. Apart from the domestic subjects common to his generation, his work was
dominated by major classical themes, characterised by the restrained treatment of sentiments and the
constant search for formal beauty. In the mid-1860s, the latter was expressed by the painting of several
nudes of men or women and, in the late 1870s in a few major sculptures of men in energetic poses, directly
inspired by Greek or Roman tradition (An Athlete Wresting with a Python, 1877, Tate). Despite the setbacks of
his London debuts, Leighton was soon to become an associate of the Royal Academy (1864), an
academician in 1868 and President in 1878.
Edward Coley Burne-Jones (Birmingham, 1833-London, 1898)
A dominant figure in British art in the second half of the 19th century, Burne-Jones
took the painting of medieval enchantment of the Pre-Raphaelites to the obscure
dreams of symbolism in an abundance of paintings.
The son of a modest framer, whose mother had died in his infancy, he was an excellent
pupil and, in 1853 became a student at Exeter College Oxford where he met William
Morris who became a close friend.
From very different social backgrounds but both marked by the spiritual renewal of the Church of England,
they were destined for priesthood. Influenced by the writing of Ruskin, they discovered their artistic vocation.
Abandoning their studies, without diplomas or training but supported by Rossetti, they went to live in
London, thus forming the nucleus of the second Pre-Raphaelites generation.
Burne-Jones’ extraordinary talent for drawing helped him to survive by notably working on designs for
stained glass windows for architectural firms. Of his many visits to Italy between 1856 and 1862, it was
probably the one to Venice and Milan with Ruskin that was to leave the greatest impression on his initial
paintings.
In 1860 he married Georgiana Macdonald (1840-1920) who always supported him, despite his passionate
adventures. A member of the Company created by Morris where he was responsible for stained glass
windows, Burne-Jones soon attracted loyal customers, charmed by the poetic nature of his work.
After many years away from the public eye and several stays in Italy between 1871 and 1873, centred on
Tuscany, Rome and the study of Michelangelo, he made a triumphal return at the first exhibition by the
Grosvenor Gallery (1877) where he made his mark as one of the masters of the Aesthetic movement and
one of Great Britain’s major artists.
The following decade was marked by a constant stream of ambitious undertakings and successes in England
(with a first retrospective exhibition in London in 1892) as well as in the rest of Europe and the United States.
In France, he was particularly admired among the symbolist circles. He was elected an associate of the
Royal Academy in 1885 but scarcely visited it, resigning in 1893. He preferred instead the Watercolour
Society or the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. It was above all his work as a decorative artist, involved in
all the domains of decorative art, including book publishing, that ensured his constant popularity. He would
not have been able to continue all these undertakings without the presence of a studio which, with figures
such as Strudwick, somewhat continued the “Burne-Jones” style, characterised by an exceptional sense of
line and elegance in its colours.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (London, 1828 - Birchington on Sea, Kent,1882)
A founder member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood established in 1848, Rossetti
brought to British art the originality of a character formed in a family rich in
exceptional European literary culture. Resisting sound training in a studio or Royal
Academy schools, he suffered throughout his career from a lack of technical training.
However, without the constraints of perspective or the traditional cannons of anatomy
study, his works were original in the extreme.
His involvement in the setup of the Brotherhood was above all expressed in the revolutionary claims of the
movement against official creation. He was also the one to notice the promising talent of young William
Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, then students at Oxford. Refusing to exhibit in public, he became known to a
wide-scale audience through his engraved illustration of an edition of Tennyson’s Poems (1857).
In around 1850, his meeting with model Elizabeth Siddal in the Brotherhood circle was to transform his life
and art: she became his muse and mistress, then his wife in 1860 and mother of their only child who died at
birth. She had delicate health and died in 1862 from an overdose of laudanum. The model for his female
characters, she was the subject of a long series of drawings between 1850 and 1855 which played a decisive
role in his drastic change of subjects in 1859. He devoted the rest of his career to representing female beauty.
In the mid-1860s, Rossetti enjoyed success with collectors and affluence. Afflicted by chronic insomnia as well
as delicate physical and mental health further affected by drug addiction, his life became increasingly that of
a recluse by the 1870s but still devoted to artistic invention. Exploring the relationship between poetry and
painting, his last works explain the major impact that the retrospective exhibitions of his works organised
in London just after his death had on the European symbolist movement.
John Everett Millais (Southampton, 1829 - London, 1896)
The youngest student ever to be admitted to the Royal Academy schools (in 1843),
he took part in its annual exhibitions from 1846 onwards with traditional historic
subjects.
With Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt, Millais was one of the three
founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848. His belief in the principles of
the Brotherhood is particularly visible in his rejection of idealisation (Christ in the
Carpenter’s Shop, Tate Britain) and his taste for minute, realistic detail (Ophelia, 1852, Tate Britain). This
increased his popularity as an artist who liked to paint subjects from literature or national history. He was
elected an associate of the Academy in 1853, becoming an academician in 1863. He also stood out for his
wood engravings, illustrating poems by Tennyson (1857), books by the contemporary novelist Anthony
Trollope or biblical subjects (Parables, 1863).
In the early 1860s, he turned sharply away from the Pre-Raphaelite movement of his youth, diversifying his
subjects and drawing his inspiration heavily from the Old Masters of the 17th and 18th centuries: Velázquez,
Frans Hals and Reynolds. His remarkable work as a portrait artist was inspired by these three Masters.
A happy family man, the very incarnation of a Victorian family life role model, he painted many portraits of
children. One of the most innovative aspects of the latter part of his career was his approach to Scottish
winter landscapes treated with a profound sense of naturalism. His exceptional popularity did not waver,
maintained by his engravings and the demand from collectors.
Albert Joseph Moore (York, 1841 – London, 1893)
Born into a Yorkshire family of artists, Albert Joseph Moore studied at the London Royal
Academy schools in 1858 followed by a long stay in Rome in 1862-63. Initially influenced
by the Pre-Raphaelite movement, particularly in his treatment of biblical history, he
produced huge murals and produced decorative objects, illustrations, wallpaper and
stained glass windows, for William Morris in particular.
An in-depth study of Greek and Roman sculpture in the British Museum, combined with
that of Japanese engravings, led him to develop a purely decorative style of painting,
based on formal beauty, the musical rhythm of compositions and light, refined colours. This search for Art
for Art’s sake, in which he played with anachronisms, leading him to the ultimate point of formalism, set him
at the core of the Aesthetic Movement. He shared this approach with his friend the painter Whistler (18341903).
His work, appreciated by several great amateurs throughout England, was regularly shown at the Royal
Academy and the Grosvenor Gallery. He was however a very solitary person and was never elected to the
Academy. His last paintings, making way for allegory and landscapes, sought to captivate customers looking
towards symbolism or nature.
John William Waterhouse (Rome, 1849 - London, 1917)
The son of a second-category English painter living in Rome, John William Waterhouse
was admitted to the Royal Academy schools in 1870 and made several trips to Italy until
the late 1880s. During his entire career he regularly exhibited at the annual Royal
Academy and New Gallery exhibitions. He became an associate of the Academy in 1885
and academician in 1895.
His first works were heavily influenced by Alma-Tadema and were devoted to the reconstitution of daily
life in Antiquity. In the early 1880s, his work changed and he became interested in literary subjects, very
popular with the first Pre-Raphaelites. He devoted his painting to the representation of women’s beauty, set
in a moment of psychological tension. Literary heroines such as Lady of Shallott (Leeds Gallery of Art) mixed
with enchantresses. He created several iconic images of femmes fatales of Victorian painting.
His style, characterised by effects of atmosphere and extensive work on colour, showed a certain level of
assimilation of more contemporary trends. His success came to a sudden halt with the advent of the First
World War.
EXHIBITION CURATORS
Véronique Gerard-Powell, Senior Lecturer at the University of
Paris - Sorbonne, is the Chief Curator for the exhibition. She
spends her life between France and England and is responsible
for teaching the history of collections at Paris-Sorbonne and
the Abu Dhabi Sorbonne. She contributed to the editing of the
Perez-Simon collection catalogue of Spanish paintings of which
she is a specialist. She recently published a book entitled
“Journey to Spain 1868 by Charles Garnier”, 2012, in
collaboration with Fernando Marías, published by Nerea.
Also Curator of the Exhibition with her is Nicolas Sainte-Fare
Garnot, Curator of the Jacquemart-André Museum.
CATALOGUE
The Jacquemart-André Museum and Fonds Mercator are
publishing a catalogue for this exhibition. This work will be a
historic landmark thanks to contributions by the Chief Curator,
Véronique Gerard-Powell, and Charlotte Ribeyrol, Senior
Lecturer in English Literature and Civilisation at the University
of Paris – Sorbonne.
Edward Burne Jones (1833-1898)
Fatima, 1862
Watercolour and gouache on paper mounted on
canvas
77,5 x 26,7 cm
Colección Pérez Simón, Mexico
© Studio Sébert Photographes
.
MEDIA PARTNERS OF THE EXHIBITION
France 3 is proud to be associated with the Jacquemart-André Museum for the “Désirs & Volupté“ exhibition.
The ambition of the public group France Télévisions is to bring culture to life and make it accessible and
intelligible to the masses while satisfying the curiosity and wishes of all audiences.
Committed to this ambitious policy, France 3, its local channel, is endeavouring more than ever to promote
cultural diversity and above all the rich French and European artistic heritage.
A supporter of all culture, France 3 carries out its mission through many regular and overarching programmes
such as the "Des racines et des ailes" series, "Passion patrimoine", “Le Grand Tour” which offers at 8.45 p.m. a
brand new cultural journey, but also “Midi en France” explores the treasures of the heritage and culture of each
French town or city - not forgetting filmed operas, shows, plays or the cultural news featured in the national and
regional news bulletins (“12/13” and “19/20”).
Thanks to Culturebox, Internet users can access videos about all the cultural and artistic events around France
and share comments and their favourites.
France 3 will be at the event at the Jacquemart-André Museum to pay tribute to the quality and richness of this
exhibition which it is happy to partner with.
www.francetelevisions.fr
Le Parisien has always supported major cultural events; the newspaper reviews all the latest cultural news in its
pages “Leisure and Entertainment”, covering music, exhibitions, cinema, theatre and literature.
Le Parisien tackles every subject simply and objectively, giving everyone the keys to understanding today’s
world. Its goal is to inform, entertain and provide a service. Le Parisien has ten local editions with editorial
teams in Ile-de-France and Seine et Marne. Each edition covers the latest news from across Paris and the towns
and neighbourhoods of its particular département, looking at political, social and cultural events and providing
practical information.
Once again, the leading Ile de France daily, Le Parisien, has joined forces with the Jacquemart André Museum to
partner the “Désirs & Volupté” exhibition. With this exhibition, the general public is invited to discover
famous artists in England in the 19th century – artists whose common maxim was the worship of beauty. In
contrast with the severity of the times, they glorified a quest for the aesthetic, making beauty an absolute and
an art of living. Woman was the main subject of this pursuit – sublime, lascivious, sensual, amorous or evil. A
pictural moment like a waking dream, with an abundance of symbols.
Le Parisien today in France: key figures
In 2013, circulation figures for Le Parisien (the number of newspapers sold daily) reached over 454,000 (source:
OJD 2012 – total circulation), representing 2,5 millions readers every morning (Audipresse One - 2012). Its site,
FB Le Parisien.fr, is the leading information site on Facebook with more than 1 million fans.
www.leparisien.fr
Press contact Le Parisien : Marie-Caroline Durand / [email protected] / 00 33 (0)1 40 10 33 83
France Inter, a special partner of the Jacquemart-André Museum, is supporting its new “Désirs & Volupé”
exhibition. It has teamed up with this event to enable its listeners to discover or rediscover the famous
artists in England during the reign of Queen Victoria in the 19th century, which include Sir Lawrence AlmaTadema, Sir Frederic Leighton and Edward Burne-Jones etc.. Fifty or so paintings to perceive this aesthetic
quest, reflecting the principles of these artists, who made beauty an absolute and an art of living.
An event to discover, experience and explore on the airwaves of France Inter and on www.franceinter.fr
Press contact : Marion Glémet – +33 6 23 18 31 74 – [email protected]
Established 35 years ago, the Figaro Magazine is at the crossroads of information and pleasure.
A magazine with a strong personality, established at the crossroads of information and pleasure, Figaro
Magazine combines high-quality writing with the beauty of photography. Directed by Guillaume Roquette,
every Friday, the Figaro Magazine editorial team proposes various articles on subjects in the news, via the
opinions of its renowned columnists (Eric Zemmour, Frédéric Beigbeder, etc.), large format features, an
exceptional selection of photos.
Le Figaro Magazine also contains the “Désirs” (Desires) guide, devoted solely to Culture and the Art of
Living, and its pages on art, the cinema, the theatre and music assert its legitimate right to stand as a
benchmark in the field of culture. One of the magazine’s priorities is to make as many people as possible
aware of often little known artistic treasures.
By supporting the “Désirs & Volupté” exhibition to be held at the Jacquemart-André Museum from 13
September 2013 to 20 January 2014, Le Figaro Magazine is delighted to make painters such as Lawrence
Alma-Tadema, Frederic Leighton or Edward Burne-Jones known to the French general public. While they
left their mark on the Victorian era from their sometimes fantasy, flamboyant representation of female
beauty and their search for original aesthetic expression, they did not all succeed in becoming known
beyond the boundaries of the British Empire in their own lifetimes.
In the context of this partnership, Le Figaro Magazine is devoting a 3-page feature to the exhibition in its 13
September issue.
Le Figaro Magazine is on sale on Fridays, together with Le Figaro Quotidien, Madame Figaro and TV
Magazine.
L’Express is France’s first news weekly. Every Wednesday in L’Express Styles and every day on lexpress.fr, a
selection of pertinent news items is revealed, enriched and decrypted. Exhibitions and major cultural events
are given pride of place.
This year, L’Express Styles is pleased to support Musée Jacquemart-André for the first time, for the “Désirs &
Volupté” exhibition.
L’Express, “une Marque de Tous les Instants” (a brand constantly on its toes)
- 1 weekly magazine and 2,139,000 readers every week
- a 24/7 flow of information with 7 million unique visitors a months
- Editorials, videos, features, exclusives, forums, chats
- a mobile strategy with Iphone, Ipad, Android and Blackberry apps.
- 42 blogs
- 100% web programmes in partnerships with the INA and Dailymotion
more than 80 journalists on Twitter
Since January 2012, L’Express has made the community the focus of its editorial strategy: on Express Yourself,
Intern users themselves post images, articles and comments on news alongside the editorial team on its 3
channels.
A partner of major exhibitions, L‘Oeil is pleased to lend its support once again to Musée Jacquemart André
on the occasion of its flagship autumn event: “Désirs & Volupté". Véronique Gerard-Powell, the curator,
has made it possible for us to discover the work of the most famous painters of Victorian England, on show
in France for the first time.
L‘Oeil, has been THE leading magazine since 1955 for news of the arts in Paris, the French regions and
worldwide. Every month, L‘Oeil enthusiastically analyses and criticises more than a hundred exhibitions for
its 100,000 readers, ranging from Antiquity to more contemporary creations, with a viewpoint open to all
the arts: painting, drawing, installations, photography, architecture and design, etc.
Leading French distributor of leisure tickets and show tickets, every year Fnac offers more than 60,000 events
in France, Belgium and Switzerland: museums, exhibitions, monuments, concerts, festivals, great shows,
theatre, comedy, dance, classical music, opera, cinema, sport, trade shows/fairs, leisure parks, restaurants,
leisure activities, etc. With 91 shops in France, its website, its telephone platform, its mobile website and its
Tick&live application for iPhone, Samsung Bada and Android, Fnac allows you to book and obtain your tickets
immediately. Fnac is also a place where the public meets the artists: throughout the year, it organises cultural
meetings, debates and mini-concerts in its own Forums and outside its walls. It associates itself with
numerous events, thereby fulfilling its role as cultural player.
By being a partner of the Jacquemart-André Museum, which is hosting the “Désirs & Volupté“ exhibition, Fnac
confirms its commitment to artistic creativity and its determination to defend the right of everyone to access
all types of culture.
www.fnac.com
With the “Desire & Sensuality in the Victorian Era” exhibition, the Jacquemart-André Museum is offering
the Parisian general public and visitors to the capital an exceptional exhibition, which the UGC Group is
delighted to support. The paintings assembled for this exhibition are a magnificent reflection of the
architectural art of the 19th century and are on show in a prime setting where visitors can discover or
rediscover them in prestigious conditions.
By supporting the Jacquemart-André Museum once again, UGC is continuing its commitment to foster
access to the wealth of culture available by as many people as possible. This partnership is part of UGC’s
global approach to encourage art and culture which, for the past four years, has also been reflected in the
field of opera with Viva l’Opéra (Long live Opera) – showing of a selection of major operas in its cinemas and, since last year, by direct broadcasts of operas and ballets from the Opéra national de Paris season, of
which UGC is a partner.
This approach is directly within the spirit of the policy that UGC is continuously striving to establish in its
cinemas by offering its spectators the full diversity of French and international cinema and by supporting
talent in the cinema industry with the production, distribution and showing of their films.
Created in 1971 through the association of various regional networks of cinemas, UGC underwent a rapid
development, becoming one of the largest European groups of cinemas present today in all fields of the
sector (screening, distribution and production).
UGC has 378 cinemas in France and 43 cinemas in Belgium. They screened close to 530 films in 2012 and
attracted 30 million cinema-goers.
VISUALS AVAILABLE FOR THE PRESS
Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836 – 1912)
The Roses of Heliogabalus, 1888
Oil on canvas
132.7 x 214.4 cm
The Pérez Simón collection, Mexico
© Studio Sébert Photographes
.
Frederic Leighton (1830 – 1896)
Greek girls picking up pebbles by the sea, 1871
Oil on canvas
84 x 129.5 cm
The Pérez Simón collection, Mexico
© Studio Sébert Photographes
John William Waterhouse (1849 – 1917)
A song of springtime, 1913
Oil on canvas
72 x 92 cm
The Pérez Simón collection, Mexico
© Studio Sébert Photographes
VISUALS AVAILABLE FOR THE PRESS
Albert Moore (1841-1893)
The Quartet, 1868
Oil on canvas
61 x 88 cm
The Pérez Simón collection, Mexico
© Studio Sébert Photographes
Edward John Poynter (1836 – 1919)
Andromada, 1869
Oil on canvas
51 x 36 cm
The Pérez Simón collection, Mexico
© Studio Sébert Photographes
Frederic Leighton (1830 – 1896)
Crenaia, the nymph of the dargle, ca. 1880
Oil on canvas
76.2 x 26.7 cm
The Pérez Simón collection, Mexico
© Studio Sébert Photographes
VISUALS AVAILABLE FOR THE PRESS
Henry Arthur Payne (1868-1940)
Enchanted Sea, circa 1899
Oil on canvas, 91,5 x 65,5 cm
Mexico, Pérez Simón Collection © Studio Sébert Photographes
John Everett Millais (1829-1896)
The Crown of Love, 1875
Oil on canvas, 129,5 x 87,8 cm
Mexico, Pérez Simón Collection © Studio Sébert Photographes
John Melhuish Strudwick (1849-1937)
In the Golden Days , n.d.
Oil on canvas, 66,5 x 46,1 cm
Mexico, Pérez Simón Collection © Studio Sébert Photographes
John William Waterhouse (1849-1917)
The Crystal Ball, 1902
Oil on canvas, 121,6 x 79,7 cm
Mexico, Pérez Simón Collection © Studio Sébert Photographes
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
A stone’s throw from the Champs-Elysées, the Musée Jacquemart-André presents Paris’s finest private art collection
in the setting of a grand 19th century mansion. Visit this magnificent town residence, the product of the passion of
Edouard André and his wife Nélie Jacquemart, with its stunning collection, which in particular includes major works
by the great Flemish masters, paintings of the 18th century French school and others by some of the most
distinguished artists of the Italian Renaissance.
Owned by the Institut de France, the Jacquemart-André Museum has been developed and managed by
Culturespaces since 1996.
Opening times and rates
Open 365 days a year from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Open every Monday and Saturday evening until 8.30
p.m.
The tea room is open every day from 11.45 a.m. to 5.30
p.m. Brunch Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Open every Monday and Saturday evening until 7 p.m.
The cultural gift and bookshop is open when the museum
is open, including Sundays.
Individuals
Full rate: 11€
Reduced rate: 9.5€ (students, children from 7 to 17, jobseekers)
Exhibition audio guide: 4€
Permanent collection audio guide: free
Free for children under the age of 7, members and staff of
the Institut de France, journalists and tourism
professionals.
Family Rate
Pay the admission charge for two adults and one child and
the second child gets in free (7 to 17 years).
Groups
Group visits are only subject to reservation:
[email protected]. Groups are not
admitted to the exhibition rooms after 2.00 pm.
Access
Jacquemart-André Museum
158, boulevard Haussmann - 75008 PARIS
Tel.: +33 1 45 62 11 59
www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com
The Museum is located 400 meters from place Charles de
Gaulle-Étoile.
Metro: lines 9 and 13 (Saint-Augustin, Miromesnil
or Saint-Philippe du Roule)
RER: RER A (Charles de Gaulle-Étoile)
Bus: 22, 43, 52, 54, 28, 80, 83, 84, 93.
Car park: Haussmann-Berri
Station Velib: rue de Berri
The temporary exhibition rooms are not accessible to
people with reduced mobility.
.
Managed and developed by
Last modification : R. Dargent, 26/06/13