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Lot Essay
The present painting is a reduced-scale, autograph replica of one of Baron Gérard's masterpieces, The Three Ages of Man, that hangs in the Galerie de Peinture of the Musée Condé at Chantilly. The original (measuring 255 x 322 cm.) was created in 1806, exhibited to much acclaim in the Paris Salon of 1808, exhibited once again in the Decennial competition of 1810 and immediately thereafter shipped to Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples and youngest of the Emperor Napoleon's sisters, who had purchased it for her collection; by the end of that year it was installed in the Royal Palace in Naples. After the disgrace of the Murats and Caroline's escape to Austria, the picture was purchased by the Prince of Salerno, and acquired in 1854 by his son-in-law, the Duc d'Aumale, châtelain of the Château de Chantilly.
The history of the Portanova replica is equally illustrious. Although it is not clear exactly when it was executed, the reduced version was in the collection of the King of France, Louis-Philippe (1773-1850) by 1826 when it appears in the royal inventory of the Palais-Royal. As the king was one of Baron Gérard's principal patrons, it is likely that the painting was produced for him on commission. For unknown reasons it was transferred sometime after 1838 to the royal residence in Neuilly, where it is recorded in 1847. The move was fortuitous since, had it remained in Paris, it would almost certainly have been destroyed in the fire that swept through the palace during the Revolution of 1848; such was the fate of Gérard's original oil sketch of the composition, which had also belonged to the king.
Set in a magnificent landscape that consciously evokes the Roman campagna of Poussin, The Three Ages of Man depicts three classical figures that personify the stages of life: old age in the guise of a white-bearded elder with a walking stick, vigorous maturity in the form of a virile youth, and infancy represented by a sleeping baby. It is a traditional presentation of a time-honored subject in the visual arts, except for the remarkable presence of a garlanded female who occupies the center of the composition and links through her own body all of the other characters. Her role in the allegory is explained in the livret of the Salon of 1808: '"In the voyage of Life, Woman is the guide, the attraction and the support of Man" (An Oriental Maxim).'
Critics of the time praised the picture's refined coloring and magnificent landscape -- a 'beautiful site in happy Arcadia...in the manner of Poussin' (Landon) -- as well as 'the touching expression that reigns over the face of the young woman and the innocent simplicity that embellishes the composition...'. Gérard's contemporaries especially admired the profound elegance of the figures who seemed transported as if by magic from 'the pastoral century', and the delicate, evanescent poetry that characterizes the overall mood of the picture and still moves viewers today.
The history of the Portanova replica is equally illustrious. Although it is not clear exactly when it was executed, the reduced version was in the collection of the King of France, Louis-Philippe (1773-1850) by 1826 when it appears in the royal inventory of the Palais-Royal. As the king was one of Baron Gérard's principal patrons, it is likely that the painting was produced for him on commission. For unknown reasons it was transferred sometime after 1838 to the royal residence in Neuilly, where it is recorded in 1847. The move was fortuitous since, had it remained in Paris, it would almost certainly have been destroyed in the fire that swept through the palace during the Revolution of 1848; such was the fate of Gérard's original oil sketch of the composition, which had also belonged to the king.
Set in a magnificent landscape that consciously evokes the Roman campagna of Poussin, The Three Ages of Man depicts three classical figures that personify the stages of life: old age in the guise of a white-bearded elder with a walking stick, vigorous maturity in the form of a virile youth, and infancy represented by a sleeping baby. It is a traditional presentation of a time-honored subject in the visual arts, except for the remarkable presence of a garlanded female who occupies the center of the composition and links through her own body all of the other characters. Her role in the allegory is explained in the livret of the Salon of 1808: '"In the voyage of Life, Woman is the guide, the attraction and the support of Man" (An Oriental Maxim).'
Critics of the time praised the picture's refined coloring and magnificent landscape -- a 'beautiful site in happy Arcadia...in the manner of Poussin' (Landon) -- as well as 'the touching expression that reigns over the face of the young woman and the innocent simplicity that embellishes the composition...'. Gérard's contemporaries especially admired the profound elegance of the figures who seemed transported as if by magic from 'the pastoral century', and the delicate, evanescent poetry that characterizes the overall mood of the picture and still moves viewers today.