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Lot Essay
Charles-Émile-Auguste Durand, known as Carolus-Duran, was a celebrated figure in the world of Parisian art and theater. Known primarily for his elegant society portraits, he was also highly influential as a teacher. One of Carolus-Duran's American pupils, J. Alden Weir, described his unique methods: ‘Carolus Duran, who is the great portrait painter of France of the present day, teaches his pupils still in a different way. He puts them in front of the living model with the brushes in their hands to represent the model as well as possible, making them draw and paint both at the same time’ (D. W. Young, The Life and Letters of J. Alden Weir, New Haven, 1960, p. 28). His studio attracted students drawn by the artist’s non-traditional, anti-Gérôme teaching methods, including the young John Singer Sargent, who would later go on to paint a striking portrait of his teacher (fig. 1). Sargent’s brilliantly fluid technique inspired commentary when it was shown at the Salon of 1874 that the student had surpassed his teacher.
La Vision was Carolus-Duran’s submission to the Salon of 1883, but in a different format than we know it today. The work was originally titled La Vision de saint Jérôme, and included a kneeling figure of St. Jerome, his arms thrown back in surprise, to the right of the nude figure (fig. 2). St. Jerome’s vision was said to have been of a trumpeting angel who called on him to atone for his sins and was the reason he decided to become a hermit – this does not seem to match with the narrative of the present picture, both because the beautiful young woman instead suggests a temptation rather than a call, and because Jerome as depicted in the original work seems to have already begun his hermetic life. It is ultimately not known why the figure of St. Jerome was removed, and the result is a more enigmatic, though no less striking, composition. The beautiful nude, floating in air, wearing a crown of roses while rose petals float through the air around her body, takes up the majority of the canvas space, striking the viewer with her monumental presence. Her billowing red hair, in places indistinguishable from the red cloak she holds behind her, gives an almost flaming effect, suffusing the canvas with a mysteriousness and a dream-like atmosphere which is undeniably captivating.
La Vision was Carolus-Duran’s submission to the Salon of 1883, but in a different format than we know it today. The work was originally titled La Vision de saint Jérôme, and included a kneeling figure of St. Jerome, his arms thrown back in surprise, to the right of the nude figure (fig. 2). St. Jerome’s vision was said to have been of a trumpeting angel who called on him to atone for his sins and was the reason he decided to become a hermit – this does not seem to match with the narrative of the present picture, both because the beautiful young woman instead suggests a temptation rather than a call, and because Jerome as depicted in the original work seems to have already begun his hermetic life. It is ultimately not known why the figure of St. Jerome was removed, and the result is a more enigmatic, though no less striking, composition. The beautiful nude, floating in air, wearing a crown of roses while rose petals float through the air around her body, takes up the majority of the canvas space, striking the viewer with her monumental presence. Her billowing red hair, in places indistinguishable from the red cloak she holds behind her, gives an almost flaming effect, suffusing the canvas with a mysteriousness and a dream-like atmosphere which is undeniably captivating.