Lot Essay
Nereide et Tritons is one of a series of mythological scenes that Cézanne painted in the 1860s in vibrant colours and animated brushstrokes. Cézanne gave a small number of works to artistic friends and literary collaborators; the present work was a gift to Emile Zola. Cézanne had already given Zola another work in 1867, namely his large oil L'Enlèvement (V. 101) currently on loan to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (fig. 2). L'Enlèvement was painted in Zola's apartment in the rue de la Condamine in 1867.
Zola used his privileged position as an acclaimed writer and critic to champion Cézanne's career. In October 1865 he became the art critic of L'Evènement and strongly defended the young avant-garde artists whose works had been rejected by the Salon. His spring 1886 pamphlet, Mon Salon, was dedicated "à mon ami, Paul Cézanne".
As with the present picture, Cézanne was employing a good deal of impasto in his pictures and this technique, along with his favoured use of the palette knife, was frowned upon by the Salon. Consequently, encouraged by Zola, Cézanne deliberately presented his violent palette knife paintings to the Salon jury with the express intention of having them rejected. After his pictures were refused for the 1866 Salon, he wrote to the Superintendent of the Beaux-Arts, "I cannot accept the unauthorised judgements of colleagues to whom I myself have not given the task of appraising me" and called for the Salon des Refusés to be re-established.
Nereide et Tritons was sold in the Zola estate sale in 1903 where it was purchased by Auguste Pellerin, the renowned collector of Cézanne's work. At the auction Pellerin bought six of the nine Cézannes offered, including his celebrated Portrait de l'Artiste of circa 1866 (V. 81). A further Cézanne previously in the Pellerin collection is offered as lot 15 in the present sale.
Zola used his privileged position as an acclaimed writer and critic to champion Cézanne's career. In October 1865 he became the art critic of L'Evènement and strongly defended the young avant-garde artists whose works had been rejected by the Salon. His spring 1886 pamphlet, Mon Salon, was dedicated "à mon ami, Paul Cézanne".
As with the present picture, Cézanne was employing a good deal of impasto in his pictures and this technique, along with his favoured use of the palette knife, was frowned upon by the Salon. Consequently, encouraged by Zola, Cézanne deliberately presented his violent palette knife paintings to the Salon jury with the express intention of having them rejected. After his pictures were refused for the 1866 Salon, he wrote to the Superintendent of the Beaux-Arts, "I cannot accept the unauthorised judgements of colleagues to whom I myself have not given the task of appraising me" and called for the Salon des Refusés to be re-established.
Nereide et Tritons was sold in the Zola estate sale in 1903 where it was purchased by Auguste Pellerin, the renowned collector of Cézanne's work. At the auction Pellerin bought six of the nine Cézannes offered, including his celebrated Portrait de l'Artiste of circa 1866 (V. 81). A further Cézanne previously in the Pellerin collection is offered as lot 15 in the present sale.