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Lot Essay
Painted between 1862 and 1864 when Cézanne was in his early twenties, Portrait d’homme barbu is a remarkably accomplished, striking portrait, which according to John Rewald may have been inspired by an unidentified sixteenth century painting. Whatever the impetus, Cézanne has succeeded in creating a sense of timelessness. There is a brooding passion to the young bearded man who gazes directly at the spectator, recalling Lawrence Gowing’s observation that, "Cézanne’s work found shadow while other painters, his Paris friends, sought light. Its emotional expression was often grievous. Death and mourning were its common states. Love in it was inseparable from violence. Its caprice was ungoverned and its reason eccentric...Before Cézanne’s way changed in 1872 and his ferocity was sublimated under another star [Pissarro and Impressionism] these first works culminated in a group of masterpieces to which opinion has still hardly allowed their deserts, yet now speak very directly to us" (Cézanne, The Early Years, 1859-1872, exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1988, p. 5).
John Rewald was similarly moved by the force of the artist’s early paintings and describes Cézanne’s arduous and essentially unpredictable development: "The very diversity and splendor of Cézanne’s works dating from before or during the war years seem to mock all attempts at classification. The young painter tackled countless problems, as though testing the limits of his genius which was unlimited…As a matter of fact, Cézanne did not, and probably did not care to, follow a strict line of progress…Like every artist, Cézanne is entitled to his inconsistencies, the more so as he was frequently dissatisfied with his paintings, and in such cases he may have looked left and right or even backward before taking a step forward. His insecurity may even have been the ransom of the over-abundance of his gifts, the almost disturbing richness of his 'sensations' that left him hesitant before deciding which road he should follow" (ibid., p. 3.).
In his unpublished thesis, Robert Ratcliffe has observed that Portrait d’homme barbu, "...has a pastel-like surface resulting from the chalk-like white ground still visible in many parts of the canvas. The local color of the flesh is scumbled over a delicate grey underpainting. The half-tones on the right side of the temple are drags of mauve paint that induce cool color contrasts in the neutral grey underpainting the partly obscure" (J. Rewald, op. cit., New York, 1996, vol. I, p. 82).
(fig. 1) The artist, 1861.
John Rewald was similarly moved by the force of the artist’s early paintings and describes Cézanne’s arduous and essentially unpredictable development: "The very diversity and splendor of Cézanne’s works dating from before or during the war years seem to mock all attempts at classification. The young painter tackled countless problems, as though testing the limits of his genius which was unlimited…As a matter of fact, Cézanne did not, and probably did not care to, follow a strict line of progress…Like every artist, Cézanne is entitled to his inconsistencies, the more so as he was frequently dissatisfied with his paintings, and in such cases he may have looked left and right or even backward before taking a step forward. His insecurity may even have been the ransom of the over-abundance of his gifts, the almost disturbing richness of his 'sensations' that left him hesitant before deciding which road he should follow" (ibid., p. 3.).
In his unpublished thesis, Robert Ratcliffe has observed that Portrait d’homme barbu, "...has a pastel-like surface resulting from the chalk-like white ground still visible in many parts of the canvas. The local color of the flesh is scumbled over a delicate grey underpainting. The half-tones on the right side of the temple are drags of mauve paint that induce cool color contrasts in the neutral grey underpainting the partly obscure" (J. Rewald, op. cit., New York, 1996, vol. I, p. 82).
(fig. 1) The artist, 1861.