European Drawings - 1, Catalogue of the Collections

ANNE-LOUIS GIRODET DE ROUCY TRIOSON

yi Phaedra Rejecting the

Embraces of Theseus

Graphite, pen and brown ink, brown wash, and whit

gouache heightening; H: 33.5 cm (13 J 4 in.); W: 22.6 c

(8 7/8 in.)

85.00.209

MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom left, signe

GIRODET INK in graphite; below, inscribe

PHEDRE. / INDIGNE DE VOUS PLAIRE E

DE VOUS APPROCHER / JE NE DOIS DE

SORMAIS SONGER QU'A ME CACHER

THESEE. /QUEL EST UETRANGE ACCUEI

QU'ON FAIT A VOTRE PERE/MON FILS?

HIPPOLYTE. /PHEDRE PEUT SEULE EXPLI

QUER CE MYSTERE. /Phedre, Acte III, Scene IV e

V in brown ink.

PROVENANCE: Pierre Didot the Elder, Paris (sale, Paris

1810 , lot 679); private collection, United States; art mar

ket, New York.

EXHIBITIONS: Salon An XII, Paris, 1804, no. 212. Frenc

Drawings: Neo-Classicism, Heim Gallery, London, Feb

ruary-March 1975, no. 50. French Drawings 1760-1880

Colnaghi, New York, April-May 1985, no. n.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: C.-P. Landon, Annales du Musee et d

I'Ecole Moderne des Beaux-Arts: Premiere collection, tom

complementaire (Paris, 1809), p. 72.

e m d d T - / L I - t , - h - , e e

THIS IS A HIGHLY FINISHED PREPARATORY STUDY FOR

one of the illustrations in a deluxe edition of the work of

Racine, published by Pierre Didot the Elder between

1801 and 1805 and dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte,

then first consul. Girodet was one of seven artists who

collaborated on the project—a group that included

Prud'hon and Gerard. He was responsible for the illus-

trations for Andromaque and Phedre. This is one of ten

drawings he made for the project, five for each drama.^1 It

shows the moment when Theseus returns and is shocked

by the cold reception he receives from his wife and Hip-

polytus; the latter then asks to depart (act 3, scenes 4, 5).

The highly controlled compositional balance and clarity

of both meaning and form are exemplary of Girodet's

most refined Neoclassical manner.

i. The Didot edition of Racine is discussed by A. Serullaz in

the exhibition catalogue Le Neo-Classidsmefran$ais: Dessins des

musees de Province, Grand Palais, Paris, 1974, pp. 63-65. For

related drawings, seej. Lacambre andj. Vilain, "Dessins neo-

classiques, bilan d'une exposition," La revue du Louvre etdes mu-

sees de France 26, no. 2 (1976), p. 71. A similar drawing by Gi-

rodet for Phedre was exhibited with the Museum's sheet in Lon-

don (French Drawings... , 1975, no. 51).

l62 FRENCH SCHOOL • GIRODET