Lot Essay
The career of Turpin de Criss was marked by the patrons who sponsored him, beginning with the Comte de Choiseul-Goffier who sent him on his first travels through Europe. He returned to Paris as the protg of Queen Hortense and was readily welcomed into Napoleon's court, becoming Chamberlain to the Empress Josephine in 1809.
Turpin de Criss's Salon debut of 1806 followed his first voyages to Switzerland, Italy and undoubtedly Greece. The painting "Ren's Farewell", inspired by Chateaubriand's romantic story of "Ren" accompanied "View of the temple of Minerva at Athens"(Sotheby's, London, November 25, 1981, lot 7, $39,600). The second painting, dated 1805 is related to the present picture of the Acropolis of 1804 which is likely to have been privately commissioned by Choiseul-Gouffier who had first visited Greece at the age of 24 in 1776. Choiseul-Goffier's account of his trip "Voyage Pittoresque de la Grce" was published in 1782 to an audience sympathetic to Greek dissatisfaction with Turkish rule. This anti-Turkish sentiment would put Choiseul-Goffier in a delicate position during his stay as ambassador to Constantinople during the final years of Louis XVI. The present picture shows the ruins of the Parthenon within which stands the smaller mosque, the "Petites ruines turques parmi la grande ruine grecque" as Flaubert described them in his letter of 1851 to Louis Bouilhat.
Turpin de Criss's talent and political affiliation helped reinforce his career. In 1816 he was made "membre libre" of the Academie des Beaux-Arts and while fulfilling this post, he continued to travel widely, devoting himself entirely to the study of landscape and antiquity. In 1818, he met Ingres in Rome which led not only to his acquiring the painting "Paolo and Francesca" (1819, Muse Turpin de Criss, Angers) but to their collaboration on an album celebrating the coronation of Charles X. The revolution of 1830 interrupted this prestigious commission and Turpin de Criss returned to regularly exhibiting his landscapes and architectural views at the Paris Salon until 1835.
The landscapes of Turpin de Criss were highly prized in his own lifetime, marked as they were by his flair for decorative composition combined with an external, serene atmosphere. These landscapes exemplify the two stylistic trends that co-existed in the early part of the 19th century. The strictly ordered composition is neo-classical and dates back to that earlier French landscape tradition inherited from the late Poussin who was "giving logical form .. to the disorder of natural scenery" (K. Clark, Landscape into Art, p. 129). The horizontal nature of landscape must be tempered with vertically in the composition, hence the necessity of architecture so often present in the classical idealized landscape. Yet in his use of light and in the juxtaposition of the monumental contrasting with small detailed figures the influence of that other major force, Romanticism is also present in Turpin de Criss's pictures.
The Parthenon or Temple of Athena Parthenos on the Athenian Acropolis, is perhaps the most famous building to have survived from antiquity. The temple was the chief monument of a building program designed to glorify the city, instigated by the statesman Pericles. The project, which began in 447 B.C., was overseen by the sculptor Phidias, together with the architects Ictinus and Callicrates. Although the temple and the famous gold and ivory cult statue were dedicated in 438 B.C., the project was not fully completed until 432 B.C.
Built in the Doric order of expensive marble from Mt. Pentelicus, the temple was richly ornamented. The sculptural program included the metopes which depicted mythical combats between Lapiths and Centaurs, Gods and Giants, Greeks and Amazons, and Greeks and Trojans. A single metope block with a Lapith and Centaur is clearly visible in the foreground to the right. The continuous frieze sculpted in low relief along the exterior of the cella wall, enclosed within the colonnade, is usually thought to depict the Panathenaic procession. One of the frieze blocks depicting youths on horseback is visible in the center foreground. The east pediment depicted the Birth of Athena, while the west pediment presented the contest between Poseidon and Athena for the land of Attica.
The Parthenon survived essentially intact until the early Christian period when many of the metopes were deliberately defaced. When the temple was converted into a church in the mid-5th century A.D., an apse was added to the east end and some windows were cut into the cella walls, causing serious damage to the east pediment and the frieze. When Athens was taken by the Turks in 1458, the building was converted into a mosque. By far the most serious damage took place on the evening of December 26, 1687 during the siege commanded by the Venetian General Francesco Morosini. A Turkish powder magazine within the Parthenon exploded, destroying the interior and toppling the middle colums of the long sides. Further damage occured when Morosini unsuccessfully attempted to remove figures from the west pediment.
Thomas Bruce, seventh earl of Elgin and eleventh earl of Kincardine, became British Ambassador at Constantinople in 1799. From 1801-1804, Lord Elgin, having been granted official authority from the Sultan, began removing sculptures from the ancient buildings of the Acropolis. From the Parthenon, 247 feet of the original 524 feet of the frieze, 14 of the 92 metopes, and 17 pedimental figures were taken. All eventually came into the collection of the British Museum, where they are now known as the Elgin Marbles. Turpin de Criss's view of the Parthenon must be one of the last views executed before Lord Elgin removed the sculptures.
Turpin de Criss's Salon debut of 1806 followed his first voyages to Switzerland, Italy and undoubtedly Greece. The painting "Ren's Farewell", inspired by Chateaubriand's romantic story of "Ren" accompanied "View of the temple of Minerva at Athens"(Sotheby's, London, November 25, 1981, lot 7, $39,600). The second painting, dated 1805 is related to the present picture of the Acropolis of 1804 which is likely to have been privately commissioned by Choiseul-Gouffier who had first visited Greece at the age of 24 in 1776. Choiseul-Goffier's account of his trip "Voyage Pittoresque de la Grce" was published in 1782 to an audience sympathetic to Greek dissatisfaction with Turkish rule. This anti-Turkish sentiment would put Choiseul-Goffier in a delicate position during his stay as ambassador to Constantinople during the final years of Louis XVI. The present picture shows the ruins of the Parthenon within which stands the smaller mosque, the "Petites ruines turques parmi la grande ruine grecque" as Flaubert described them in his letter of 1851 to Louis Bouilhat.
Turpin de Criss's talent and political affiliation helped reinforce his career. In 1816 he was made "membre libre" of the Academie des Beaux-Arts and while fulfilling this post, he continued to travel widely, devoting himself entirely to the study of landscape and antiquity. In 1818, he met Ingres in Rome which led not only to his acquiring the painting "Paolo and Francesca" (1819, Muse Turpin de Criss, Angers) but to their collaboration on an album celebrating the coronation of Charles X. The revolution of 1830 interrupted this prestigious commission and Turpin de Criss returned to regularly exhibiting his landscapes and architectural views at the Paris Salon until 1835.
The landscapes of Turpin de Criss were highly prized in his own lifetime, marked as they were by his flair for decorative composition combined with an external, serene atmosphere. These landscapes exemplify the two stylistic trends that co-existed in the early part of the 19th century. The strictly ordered composition is neo-classical and dates back to that earlier French landscape tradition inherited from the late Poussin who was "giving logical form .. to the disorder of natural scenery" (K. Clark, Landscape into Art, p. 129). The horizontal nature of landscape must be tempered with vertically in the composition, hence the necessity of architecture so often present in the classical idealized landscape. Yet in his use of light and in the juxtaposition of the monumental contrasting with small detailed figures the influence of that other major force, Romanticism is also present in Turpin de Criss's pictures.
The Parthenon or Temple of Athena Parthenos on the Athenian Acropolis, is perhaps the most famous building to have survived from antiquity. The temple was the chief monument of a building program designed to glorify the city, instigated by the statesman Pericles. The project, which began in 447 B.C., was overseen by the sculptor Phidias, together with the architects Ictinus and Callicrates. Although the temple and the famous gold and ivory cult statue were dedicated in 438 B.C., the project was not fully completed until 432 B.C.
Built in the Doric order of expensive marble from Mt. Pentelicus, the temple was richly ornamented. The sculptural program included the metopes which depicted mythical combats between Lapiths and Centaurs, Gods and Giants, Greeks and Amazons, and Greeks and Trojans. A single metope block with a Lapith and Centaur is clearly visible in the foreground to the right. The continuous frieze sculpted in low relief along the exterior of the cella wall, enclosed within the colonnade, is usually thought to depict the Panathenaic procession. One of the frieze blocks depicting youths on horseback is visible in the center foreground. The east pediment depicted the Birth of Athena, while the west pediment presented the contest between Poseidon and Athena for the land of Attica.
The Parthenon survived essentially intact until the early Christian period when many of the metopes were deliberately defaced. When the temple was converted into a church in the mid-5th century A.D., an apse was added to the east end and some windows were cut into the cella walls, causing serious damage to the east pediment and the frieze. When Athens was taken by the Turks in 1458, the building was converted into a mosque. By far the most serious damage took place on the evening of December 26, 1687 during the siege commanded by the Venetian General Francesco Morosini. A Turkish powder magazine within the Parthenon exploded, destroying the interior and toppling the middle colums of the long sides. Further damage occured when Morosini unsuccessfully attempted to remove figures from the west pediment.
Thomas Bruce, seventh earl of Elgin and eleventh earl of Kincardine, became British Ambassador at Constantinople in 1799. From 1801-1804, Lord Elgin, having been granted official authority from the Sultan, began removing sculptures from the ancient buildings of the Acropolis. From the Parthenon, 247 feet of the original 524 feet of the frieze, 14 of the 92 metopes, and 17 pedimental figures were taken. All eventually came into the collection of the British Museum, where they are now known as the Elgin Marbles. Turpin de Criss's view of the Parthenon must be one of the last views executed before Lord Elgin removed the sculptures.