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Lot Essay
When a fire devastated the Royal Palace of Bucharest in 1927, destroying everything except a single staircase, Queen Marie immediately launched an ambitious reconstruction campaign. The rebuilding was largely completed during the reign of her son, Carol II, culminating in a vast Neoclassical palace fitted out by leading international artists and designers. Among those commissioned was Jean Dupas, whose celebrated murals for the Normandie ocean liner would debut in 1935. For the Romanian Royal Palace, Dupas was tasked with creating the ceiling and the archway decorations for the Salon de l’Argenterie.
Dupas’ collaboration with the Royal Household proved difficult, and progress was slow. A dispute over payment terms prompted him to accept a major commission in Bordeaux rather than continue work on the Bucharest ceiling. Consequently, although a full-colour model of the entire decorative scheme existed, by the time the building was completed in 1937, only part of the mural cycle, presumably including the present archway mural, had been executed. Dupas was still negotiating in February 1940, but global events quickly overtook the project: the German invasion of France in May, followed by the abdication of Carol II in September, brought the commission to an irreversible halt. The palace suffered further damage in the August 1944 bombings, and although it was later restored, the Dupas mural remained with the artist’s family.
A period photograph showing Dupas’ sketches for one end of the Salon de l’Argenterie reveals how he intended to weave Zodiac motifs and the Chariot of Dawn into the composition: subjects mentioned by Arthur Lorenz of the Royal Household’s building division in a letter dated 9 August 1935. Dupas also followed Lorenz’s request to include “modern characters who (…) will make a truly charming impression.” In the original scheme, Aries and Taurus were to appear above an arch on the right, Cancer at the center (as visible in this mural), and Leo and Virgo in a corresponding section on the left. The horses soaring above the great central arch likely represent those of Dawn herself, who appears to have been positioned at the center of the ceiling.
Dupas’ collaboration with the Royal Household proved difficult, and progress was slow. A dispute over payment terms prompted him to accept a major commission in Bordeaux rather than continue work on the Bucharest ceiling. Consequently, although a full-colour model of the entire decorative scheme existed, by the time the building was completed in 1937, only part of the mural cycle, presumably including the present archway mural, had been executed. Dupas was still negotiating in February 1940, but global events quickly overtook the project: the German invasion of France in May, followed by the abdication of Carol II in September, brought the commission to an irreversible halt. The palace suffered further damage in the August 1944 bombings, and although it was later restored, the Dupas mural remained with the artist’s family.
A period photograph showing Dupas’ sketches for one end of the Salon de l’Argenterie reveals how he intended to weave Zodiac motifs and the Chariot of Dawn into the composition: subjects mentioned by Arthur Lorenz of the Royal Household’s building division in a letter dated 9 August 1935. Dupas also followed Lorenz’s request to include “modern characters who (…) will make a truly charming impression.” In the original scheme, Aries and Taurus were to appear above an arch on the right, Cancer at the center (as visible in this mural), and Leo and Virgo in a corresponding section on the left. The horses soaring above the great central arch likely represent those of Dawn herself, who appears to have been positioned at the center of the ceiling.