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Lot Essay
This rare and rather enigmatic 'conversation piece' of a feminine musical gathering in a London drawing-room was painted by the twenty-three year old Jacques-Emile Blanche in 1884, most probably in his teacher Henri Gervex’s studio, either from memory or from drawings which we have not yet discovered. Blanche’s attachment to England had begun when his psychiatrist father had sent him to London in 1870, alone with his nanny and a man-servant, to protect him from the bombs and mayhem of the Franco-Prussian war. As the precocious only child of elderly well-connected parents, the little boy quickly learnt the language and was introduced into English High Society. He would never look back and kept a fondness for all things British all his life.
In 1882, on a first trip to London, he met his absolute 'idol' (after Edouard Manet, that is!), James McNeill Whistler and also, very importantly, his lifelong friend, Walter Sickert. Then later in 1882, he in fact returned again with his mentor Edmond Maitre, Paul-César Helleu and Auguste Rodin and then in 1883, with Edmond Maitre, his teacher Henri Gervex and Paul Robert. On these trips, he acted as a kind of artistic "tour guide" since he was already very familiar with London.
Of course, Blanche was, as any budding artist would be, obviously subject to many influences, apart from his “idol” Edouard Manet his teacher Henri Gervex who had trained him in the basics of painting. For example, he was a close friend of the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931) who was already a recognized artist in Paris as well as Italy, and he also got on well with Paul-César Helleu (1859-1927). In June 1882, he travelled with both artists to London where he shared a flat with them both. During that trip, Blanche and Helleu also visited the French painter James Tissot (1836-1902) who took them on an improvised picnic to Sydenham. Tissot who came from a wealthy family in Nantes, lived in London where he had moved in 1871, in incredible luxury in his grand house at 17 Grove End Road in St John’s Wood, in North London. He had become very famous and very rich in England, painting genre scenes and portraits, inundated with commissions and provided an essential link between the establishment and young artists. He also had become a friend of the painters of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, still absolutely unknown in France, and he introduced Blanche to the artists and their art.
In Intérieur à Londres, we see eight young women listening to music in a London interior, which was most probably invented by the artist. The sash-window is in fact the only clue that we are in London. It is a rather sparsely furnished room: a couple of kakemonos hanging on the back wall and Oriental-flavoured furniture, a nod to fashionable Japonism and possibly to Oscar Wilde whom Blanche had met in 1883 at Charles Ephrussi’s , a grand piano and an assortment of wicker chairs which were all in Blanche’s studio in Auteuil. The tea-service, with that rather peculiar samovar, was Blanche’s and appears in many of his still-life subjects. Beyond this room to the right, we get a glimpse of a conservatory and from the window, we see a smoking chimney.
As for the models, the red-haired Ellen André (1857-1925), Gervex’s model in Rolla in 1878 and Blanche’s in Contemplation in 1882, is in charge of pouring the tea, dressed in the same bonnet and puff-sleeved dress which she wears in Femme au bord d’un yacht (Ponce Museum, catalogue raisonné no. 497), Blanche’s first successful salon picture of 1881. Opposite her and in profile, is the dark-haired Henriette Chabot, a favourite model of Blanche’s who posed in 1882 for the Partie de tennis, his largest and most ambitious work of the beginning of his career, as well as many other paintings. The other women are not clearly recognizable, probably because they are all Ellen André and Henriette Chabot in different guises. These figures appear slightly ghost-like in their vaporous dresses in pastel shades, golden Pre-Raphaelite hair and vacant looks: it is what gives this marvellous painting such a mysterious feel. We naturally wonder what the pianist is playing on the Baby Grand: we know that Blanche himself was an accomplished musician with a particular love of Wagner and Schumann.
We would like to thank Jane Roberts for confirming the authenticity of this work and for her assistance in preparing this note. Jane Roberts has authenticated this painting, which is included in her digital Jacques-Émile Blanche catalogue raisonné as no. RM 919.
In 1882, on a first trip to London, he met his absolute 'idol' (after Edouard Manet, that is!), James McNeill Whistler and also, very importantly, his lifelong friend, Walter Sickert. Then later in 1882, he in fact returned again with his mentor Edmond Maitre, Paul-César Helleu and Auguste Rodin and then in 1883, with Edmond Maitre, his teacher Henri Gervex and Paul Robert. On these trips, he acted as a kind of artistic "tour guide" since he was already very familiar with London.
Of course, Blanche was, as any budding artist would be, obviously subject to many influences, apart from his “idol” Edouard Manet his teacher Henri Gervex who had trained him in the basics of painting. For example, he was a close friend of the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931) who was already a recognized artist in Paris as well as Italy, and he also got on well with Paul-César Helleu (1859-1927). In June 1882, he travelled with both artists to London where he shared a flat with them both. During that trip, Blanche and Helleu also visited the French painter James Tissot (1836-1902) who took them on an improvised picnic to Sydenham. Tissot who came from a wealthy family in Nantes, lived in London where he had moved in 1871, in incredible luxury in his grand house at 17 Grove End Road in St John’s Wood, in North London. He had become very famous and very rich in England, painting genre scenes and portraits, inundated with commissions and provided an essential link between the establishment and young artists. He also had become a friend of the painters of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, still absolutely unknown in France, and he introduced Blanche to the artists and their art.
In Intérieur à Londres, we see eight young women listening to music in a London interior, which was most probably invented by the artist. The sash-window is in fact the only clue that we are in London. It is a rather sparsely furnished room: a couple of kakemonos hanging on the back wall and Oriental-flavoured furniture, a nod to fashionable Japonism and possibly to Oscar Wilde whom Blanche had met in 1883 at Charles Ephrussi’s , a grand piano and an assortment of wicker chairs which were all in Blanche’s studio in Auteuil. The tea-service, with that rather peculiar samovar, was Blanche’s and appears in many of his still-life subjects. Beyond this room to the right, we get a glimpse of a conservatory and from the window, we see a smoking chimney.
As for the models, the red-haired Ellen André (1857-1925), Gervex’s model in Rolla in 1878 and Blanche’s in Contemplation in 1882, is in charge of pouring the tea, dressed in the same bonnet and puff-sleeved dress which she wears in Femme au bord d’un yacht (Ponce Museum, catalogue raisonné no. 497), Blanche’s first successful salon picture of 1881. Opposite her and in profile, is the dark-haired Henriette Chabot, a favourite model of Blanche’s who posed in 1882 for the Partie de tennis, his largest and most ambitious work of the beginning of his career, as well as many other paintings. The other women are not clearly recognizable, probably because they are all Ellen André and Henriette Chabot in different guises. These figures appear slightly ghost-like in their vaporous dresses in pastel shades, golden Pre-Raphaelite hair and vacant looks: it is what gives this marvellous painting such a mysterious feel. We naturally wonder what the pianist is playing on the Baby Grand: we know that Blanche himself was an accomplished musician with a particular love of Wagner and Schumann.
We would like to thank Jane Roberts for confirming the authenticity of this work and for her assistance in preparing this note. Jane Roberts has authenticated this painting, which is included in her digital Jacques-Émile Blanche catalogue raisonné as no. RM 919.