Antoine Calbet (1860-1942) Daphnis And Chloe, Original Signed Drawing

Antoine Calbet (1860-1942)
Daphnis et Chloé (Daphnis and Chloe)
Signed lower left
Charcoal and heightenings of white gouache on paper
Diameter 28 cm
Framed : 43.5 x 44.5 cm

Daphnis and Chloe is a Greek pastoral novel written during the Roman Empire, the only known work of second-century Hellenistic romance writer Longus.
Daphnis and Chloe is the story of a boy (Daphnis) and a girl (Chloe), each of whom is abandoned at birth along with some identifying tokens. A goatherd named Lamon discovers Daphnis, and a shepherd called Dryas finds Chloe. Each decides to raise the child he finds as his own. Daphnis and Chloe grow up together, herding the flocks for their foster parents. They fall in love but, being naive, do not understand what is happening to them. Philetas, a wise old cowherd, explains to them what love is and tells them that the only cure is kissing. They do this. Eventually, Lycaenion, a woman from the city, educates Daphnis in love-making. Daphnis, however, decides not to test his newly acquired skill on Chloe, because Lycaenion tells Daphnis that Chloe "will scream and cry and lie bleeding heavily [as if murdered]." Throughout the book, Chloe is courted by suitors, two of whom (Dorcon and Lampis) attempt with varying degrees of success to abduct her. She is also carried off by raiders from a nearby city and saved by the intervention of the god Pan. Meanwhile, Daphnis falls into a pit, gets beaten up, is abducted by pirates, and is very nearly raped by a drunkard. In the end, after being recognised by their birth parents, Daphnis and Chloe get married and live out their bucolic lives in the country.

The story of Daphnis and Chloe has inspired numerous works of art, including a painting by Boucher and a symphonic poem by Maurice Ravel.
Here, Antoine Calbet gives a particularly touching interpretation of the innocent love of the two protagonists.

Antoine Calbet (1860-1942) was a French painter and illustrator renowned for his graceful and sensual depictions of the female figure. Born in Auzits, Aveyron, he trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier in the studio of Édouard-Antoine Marsal (1845-1929). He then went on to study at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the prestigious studio of Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889). 
Antoine Calbet arrived on the Paris art scene at a time when the Third Republic was seeking to establish its legitimacy through prestigious artistic achievements. Noticed by President Fallières, of whom he became a friend, he juggled official commissions with private requests.
The artist exhibited regularly at the official Salon, and his first painting was accepted when he was just twenty years old. He won medals in 1891, 1892 and 1893. He also won a silver medal at the 1900 Universal Exhibition for a panel for the Colonies pavilion.
His success at the Salon won him numerous official commissions for large-scale decorations: the ceiling of the Decourneau theatre in Agen, and wall decorations for the town halls of Pamiers and Agen. In Paris, his evocations of Nice, Evian, Nîmes and Grenoble can be admired in the Gare de Lyon restaurant Le Train Bleu.
 Calbet's painting captures the positive atmosphere that marked the success of the Third Republic, and which endured despite the horrors of the Great War. His subjects are light and euphoric, his women exquisitely beautiful, his official portraits imposing. He excelled in gallant scenes, the evocation of an idyllic past à la Watteau, or the exaltation of grandiose nature.
The artist died in Paris on 21 August 1942.
Antoine Calbet's works can be found in French public collections, including the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée du Petit Palais, as well as the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Agen and the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse, not to mention town halls and theatres. In the USA, it features in the collections of the Dallas Museum of Art.