HENRI LEHMANN (Karl Ernest Rodolphe Heinrich Salem Lehmann)
1814-1882
THIS STUDY WAS MADE IN THE LAST STAGES OF PREP-
aration for Lehmann's painting of 1847 in the Chapelle
de la Compassion, Saint-Louis-en-1'Ile, Paris. The paint-
ing forms part of an ensemble that also includes the As-
sumption and Virgin Presenting the Christ Child, completed
in 1848 and 1850, respectively. Lehmann had already be-
gun work on designing the Lamentation by 1844, as is
noted in a letter from him to the comtesse d'Agoult.^1 His
first attempts to lay out the composition reveal that his
ideas hardly changed between 1844 and 1847; this is in-
dicated by a drawing dated 1844 that contains almost all
of the principal features of the completed painting.^2 This
dated drawing and another of 1847 in a private collection,
Paris (Aubrun 1983, p. 113, no. 0287), show Christ's
body being carried away in the left background, a detail
omitted from the Museum's drawing and the final paint-
ing. The former differs from other studies for the picture
in its technical precision and high degree of finish, both
of which are echoed in the resulting painting.- S. Joubert, Une correspondance romantique: Madame d'Agoult,
Liszt, Henri Lehmann (Paris, 1947), pp. 191-92. - Sold Sotheby's, London, November 27, 1980, lot 55; art
market, New York, 1988.
156 FRENCH SCHOOL • LEHMANN63 Lamentation at the Foot of
the Cross
Black and white chalk, graphite, and gray wash on
brown paper; H: 42. 8 cm (i6^7 /sin.); W: 29.2 cm (n V^in.)
86.GB.47 4
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom left corner,
signed and dated henri Lehmann. 1847. in black chalk.
PROVENANCE: Descendants of the artist; private collec-
tion, Paris; Mario Amaya, New York; Frederick}. Cum-
mings, Detroit; art market, New York.
EXHIBITIONS: Christian Imagery in French Nineteenth
Century Art, 1798-1906, Shepherd Gallery, New York,
1980 , no. 86 (catalogue by R. Kashey and M. H. Rey-
mert); University of Chicago Alumni Who Collect Drawings
from the loth Century to the Present, David and Alfred
Smart Gallery, New York, March-May 1982, no. 3 9
(catalogue by R. Born); French and English Drawings
1700-1875, Zangrilli, Brady and Co., Ltd., New York,
February-March 1986 , no. 32.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.-M. Aubrun, Henri Lehmann, 1814-
1882: Portraits et décors parisiens, exh. cat. (Musée Carna-
valet, Paris, 1983), pp. 75-76, under nos. 81, 82;}. Fou-
cart and L.-A. Prat, "Quelques oeuvres inédites d'Henri
Lehmann (1814-1882) au Louvre et au Musée d'Orsay,"
La revue du Louvre et des Musées de France 33, no. i (1983),
p. 23, n. 12; M.-M. Aubrun, Henri Lehmann , 1814-1882:
Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre (Nantes, 1984), vol. i, p.
113 , no. D288.