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Lot Essay
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1605, MIGUEL CERVANTES' NOVEL DON QUIXOTE BECAME POPULAR WITH A NEW GENERATION OF READERS IN THE 19TH CENTURY AS WRITERS AND ARTISTS OF THE ROMANTIC ERA UNCOVERED NEW LAYERS OF MEANING IN THE WORK. JEAN-HONORé FRAGONARD (1732-1806) HAD TREATED THE THEME IN A SEQUENCE OF DRAWINGS; TONY JOHANNOT AND GUSTAVE DORé ENGRAVED IMPORTANT SERIES OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE MID-19TH CENTURY. DAUMIER WAS DRAWN STRONGLY TO CERVANTES' HERO, AND IT IS LIKELY THAT THE ARTIST CLOSELY IDENTIFIED WITH THE IDEALISTIC QUEST OF THE KNIGHT ERRANT. HE DEALT WITH THIS SUBJECT THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER, MORE THAN ANY OTHER FROM A LITERARY SOURCE, BUT UNLIKE JOHANNOT OR DORé, DAUMIER SOUGHT NOT TO ILLUSTRATE INCIDENTS FROM THE NOVEL, BUT TO CREATE AN INSIGHTFUL PORTRAIT OF THE DON AND HIS SQUIRE, SANCHO PANZA.
[DAUMIER'S] DON QUIXOTE IS VIRTUALLY DISEMBODIED, THE SPIRIT PERSONIFIED, CHARGING TIRELESSLY TOWARD SOME VISIONARY GOAL. SANCHO, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS ALL PHYSICAL BODY. HE HAS TO BE DRAGGED ALONG, AND HE RETARDS ALL FORWARD PROGRESS BY HIS SHEER EARTH-BOUND WEIGHT. AS ALL OF DAUMIER'S DRAWINGS, EXTERNAL APPEARANCE IS TRANSFORMED INTO AN INNER VISION. (M. SONNABEND, OP. CIT., P. 238)
THE STUDIES ON THE VERSO OF THE PRESENT DRAWING WERE EXECUTED IN PREPARATION FOR THE DRAWING L'IVRESSE DE SILèNE (MAISON NO. 762; MUSéE DES BEAUX-ARTS ET DE LA DENTELLE, CALAIS), BASED ON A PAINTING BY RUBENS WHICH DAUMIER EXHIBITED IN THE SALON OF 1850. THIS PERMITS DATING OF THE DON QUIXOTE SUBJECT ON THE RECTO, AS WELL AS THE OIL PAINTING FOR WHICH IT IS A STUDY (MAISON, NO. I-36; EX-COLL. MR. AND MRS. ARCHBOLD VAN BEUREN; HIS SALE, CHRISTIE'S NEW YORK, 16 NOV. 1988, LOT 253).
THIS DRAWING WAS ACQUIRED IN THE 1920S BY JAKOB GOLDSCHMIDT, THE BERLIN BANKER WHO WAS RENOWNED FOR HIS COLLECTION OF OLD MASTER, IMPRESSIONIST AND POST-IMPRESSIONIST PICTURES. IN 1958 SEVEN OF HIS PAINTINGS, BY CéZANNE, VAN GOGH, MANET AND RENOIR, WERE SOLD AT SOTHEBY'S LONDON, SETTING A THEN AUCTION RECORD TOTAL FOR A SINGLE SESSION.
[DAUMIER'S] DON QUIXOTE IS VIRTUALLY DISEMBODIED, THE SPIRIT PERSONIFIED, CHARGING TIRELESSLY TOWARD SOME VISIONARY GOAL. SANCHO, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS ALL PHYSICAL BODY. HE HAS TO BE DRAGGED ALONG, AND HE RETARDS ALL FORWARD PROGRESS BY HIS SHEER EARTH-BOUND WEIGHT. AS ALL OF DAUMIER'S DRAWINGS, EXTERNAL APPEARANCE IS TRANSFORMED INTO AN INNER VISION. (M. SONNABEND, OP. CIT., P. 238)
THE STUDIES ON THE VERSO OF THE PRESENT DRAWING WERE EXECUTED IN PREPARATION FOR THE DRAWING L'IVRESSE DE SILèNE (MAISON NO. 762; MUSéE DES BEAUX-ARTS ET DE LA DENTELLE, CALAIS), BASED ON A PAINTING BY RUBENS WHICH DAUMIER EXHIBITED IN THE SALON OF 1850. THIS PERMITS DATING OF THE DON QUIXOTE SUBJECT ON THE RECTO, AS WELL AS THE OIL PAINTING FOR WHICH IT IS A STUDY (MAISON, NO. I-36; EX-COLL. MR. AND MRS. ARCHBOLD VAN BEUREN; HIS SALE, CHRISTIE'S NEW YORK, 16 NOV. 1988, LOT 253).
THIS DRAWING WAS ACQUIRED IN THE 1920S BY JAKOB GOLDSCHMIDT, THE BERLIN BANKER WHO WAS RENOWNED FOR HIS COLLECTION OF OLD MASTER, IMPRESSIONIST AND POST-IMPRESSIONIST PICTURES. IN 1958 SEVEN OF HIS PAINTINGS, BY CéZANNE, VAN GOGH, MANET AND RENOIR, WERE SOLD AT SOTHEBY'S LONDON, SETTING A THEN AUCTION RECORD TOTAL FOR A SINGLE SESSION.