拍品专文
Scheffer painted four versions of this composition. The first, painted in 1845, oil on canvas 168 x 141 cm, is in a private collection. A second, dated 1849, is in the Dordrechts Museum; another from 1854 is in the National Gallery in London; and one from 1855 is in the Louvre (L.Ewals, Ary Scheffer 1795-1858: Gevierd Romanticus, exhibition catalogue Dordrechts Museum, 1995/1996, pp.257-259, no67). The first version was shown at the Salon in 1846 and elicited sarcastic comments from Charles Baudelaire, who included a chapter 'De M. Ary Scheffer et de singes du Sentiment' in his review of that year's Salon.
The subject is taken from St.Augustine, Confessiones IX, X, in which a conversation on Christianity between Augustinus and his recently converted mother Monica is described, shortly before her death in 387.
The subject is taken from St.Augustine, Confessiones IX, X, in which a conversation on Christianity between Augustinus and his recently converted mother Monica is described, shortly before her death in 387.