Melchior Doze (1827-1913), Study Of Sainte, Circa 1875-79

Melchior Doze (1827-1913)
Study of a holy woman, around 1875-79
Preparatory drawing for the decoration of the Saint-Félix de Saint-Gervasy church (Gard), Chapel of the Cross (south side aisle), completed in 1879
Mine of lead and heightened with white chalk on blue paper
Bears the stamp of the Marie-Madeleine Aubrun collection (1924-1998) at the bottom right (L.3508)
Bears the stamp of the workshop on the back (L.4552) 31, 5 x 21.5 cm
Provenance: sale of the artist's studio collection, Paris, Me Lebat, March 4, 1983; former collection Marie-Madeleine Aubrun (1924-1998), art historian, his sale in Paris, Me Rieunier & Me Bailly, February 8 and 9, 1999

Born in Uzès in 1827, Melchior Doze grew up in Nîmes where he studied drawing school from the age of fifteen. He then perfected his skills with Joseph Felon (1818-1897) and Hippolyte Flandrin (1809-1864) who was then working on the decoration of the Saint-Paul church (Nîmes). He then followed the lessons of the latter, whom he found in his Parisian studio in 1862. He exhibited at the Salon between 1861 and 1879 and obtained several awards. He also taught at the drawing school in his town before being appointed director in 1875 following his former master: Numa Boucoiran (1805-1875).

The artist devoted himself almost exclusively to the painting of religious subjects and created the decorations for several churches in the Gard department, including the Saint-Charles church and the Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Castor cathedral in Nîmes. In 1858, Father Louis-Simon Lambert, newly appointed parish priest of Saint-Gervasy (Gard), entrusted him with the creation of the painted decorations of the church. The latter is at the origin of a vast project of enlargement and embellishment of the church built in the 12th century.

Melchior Doze skilfully translates the ambitious decorative program devised with the priest. His wall compositions depict all the saints honored by the church. The simplicity of the arrangement seems inherited from the Byzantine tradition. The symmetry that refers to the hieratic style of the 13th century is subtly attenuated by the introduction of varied poses and differences in the types and colors of the characters' draperies, all in the service of religious sentiment. The artist necessarily borrows from the Flandrins, notably from the grand decor of the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul church in Paris.

The study of a holy woman on blue paper that we present is preparatory to the decoration of the chapel of the Cross which is located on the south aisle of the said church, signed and dated “1879” (ill.1). Two angels carry the Cross in the heavens above two groups composed of three figures. Our figure, which is in the foreground of the group on the left, would be that of Marie Salomé, surrounded by Marie Jacobé and Joseph of Arimathea. Related drawings, also preparatory to the decoration of this same chapel, are kept in the Museum of Fine Arts in Nîmes and in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.