Legrand
(I do not believe that this is the
famous, Louis Auguste Mathieu Legrand [1863–1951], as the printer and publisher of this lithograph were active in the 1820s and were not publishing in the late 1800s).
“Chactas”, c.
1820, after Anne-Louis Girodet’s (aka
Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson; Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson) (1767–1824)
painting, “The Entombment of Atala” (exhibited in the Salon of 1808). The
lithograph is printed by Ducarme (fl
1820s) and published by Blaisot (fl.
c.1812–1841)
Lithograph on
heavy wove paper lined on a conservator’s support sheet
Size: (sheet)
20.8 x 26.8 cm
Inscribed in
the plate at lower left with the artist’s signature.
Lettered in the
lower margin: (left) “Album des Jeunes Artistes”; (centre) “CHACTAS / D’après
le Tableau de Girodet. / No. 27. / Place Vendome No. 24 / Lith. De Ducarme, r.
des f. és St. G.n L’Aux, ois No. 24 à Paris [Rue des Fossés-Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois
No.24]; (right) Publié par Blaisot”
Condition: crisp impression in very good condition but with signs of use (i.e. there are no
tears, holes, abrasions, stains or foxing, but there is light surface soiling).
I am selling
this small lithograph for the total cost of AU$40 (currently US$30.31/EUR28.24/GBP24.32 at the time of this listing). As the asking price for this print is very low I am selling it with the purchase of any other print.
If you are
interested in acquiring this delicate lithograph (along with the purchase of
any other print as noted above), please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com)
and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.
For those who
may be unfamiliar with Anne-Louis Girodet’s painting, “The Entombment of Atala”,
upon which this delicate lithograph is based, I must advise that the
subject portrayed is not of
a beautiful young lady but a beautiful young man who is a character
in a Romeo and Juliet type of novel titled, “Atala, ou les amours de deux savages
dans le desert” (i.e. Atala, the loves of two savages in the wilderness) (1801)
by François-Auguste-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand. The name of this young man
is Chactas—hence the title of the print—and, according to the information on
the Louvre website regarding Girodet’s painting, Chactas is shown “stricken
with grief” as he clings passionately his dead lover, Atala. (Note: the Louvre website offers an excellent
explanation of this painting and François-Auguste-René’s story underpinning it;
see http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/entombment-atala).
Although the
inscription on this lithograph point to Girodet’s painting as the source for
the image, I wish to suggest that there may be a strong influence in the
modelling of Chactas’ hair from Francisque Duret’s sculpture, “Chactas on the
Tomb of Atala” (see https://cestmoi.ca/chactas-sur-la-tombe-datala/).
Of course, I may be wrong about this, but the hair style shown in the painting
is quite unlike the lithograph and matches very well Duret’s vision of a
braided coiffure.
Leaving aside
the true origin of the portrayed man with a braided coiffure, the topic of who
Chacatas stands for in a larger metanarrative is much more interesting. The
character, Chacatas is a non-Christian, Natchez Indian who is confronted by the
culture of his lover, the Euro-American virgin and Christian girl, Atala,
living in nineteenth century Louisiana. Moreover, as the Louvre’s commentary on
Girodet’s painting proposes, the story of their relationship “celebrated
Catholicism at the time when Bonaparte signed the Concordat with the Church”
along with “the exoticism, the defence of the innocence of primitive peoples
and the religious sentiment that characterized the novel…” (ibid).
In short, there
is layering of meanings underlying this seemingly simple study.
