"Hortense Richard (1858-1940) “marguerite Folle” After J. Bertrand, Universal Exhibition 1889"
Hortense Richard (1858-1940) “Marguerite Folle” An 1889 Universal Exhibition Porcelain Plaque after the painter James Bertrand
Hand-painted Polychromed Porcelain Plaque
Representing The Marguerite of Faust
Signed Lower Left
Titled on the reverse:
“Marguerite Folle d’Après James Bertrand, Exposition Universelle 1889”
After a Painting by James Bertrand
In its original frame
Circa 1880
Total Dimensions H 43 cm L 33,5 cm P 3 cm
Plaque H 28,5 cm L 20 cm
Faust and Marguerite
Faust is tired of his old life and wants to kill himself. In a final burst of bitter anger, he invokes the devil. The devil appears in the guise of Mephistopheles and offers him a pact: he will grant him what he desires most in the world in exchange for his servitude. Faust asks him for youth and his help in seducing Marguerite. When he achieves his goal, bound by his contract with the devil, Faust abandons the latter who is waiting for her child. Filled with remorse, he returns to her, but kills Valentin, Marguerite's brother who tries to stop him, during a duel. He then tries to save the life of Marguerite who is imprisoned for infanticide, but he fails. Like this multifaceted character, the vocal treatment chosen by Gounod is differentiated: sometimes very lyrical with touching flights, sometimes very cold and repetitive to evoke her detachment from the world of men.
Marguerite is young and naive. She lets herself be seduced by the charming and mysterious character of Faust and thus causes her own downfall as well as that of her family (her brother and her child will die).
Hortense Richard (1858-1940)
Marie Sophie Hortense Jeanne Schrenk was born in Charonne in 1858, the natural daughter of Louise Christine Frederika Schrenk and an unnamed father. Her mother, a German born in Stuttgart, officially recognized her in August 1879. A few days later, Hortense married his fellow painter Désiré Alfred Magne.
On her death certificate, in 1940, it is mentioned that she is the daughter of a man named Jean Richard, whose surname she adopted as an artist’s name.
Hortense Richard learned painting with Delphine de Cool, James Bertrand, Jules Lefebvre and William Bouguereau at the Académie Julian in Paris.
She exhibited in Paris at the Salon of 1875 and then at the Salon des artistes français from 1909. She received an honourable mention at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889, then the Prix Maxime-David and a third class medal in 1892 where she caused a sensation with La Dormeuse, a painting on ivory of imposing size. She won a bronze medal at the 1900 Universal Exhibition. She exhibited until 1935.
She also presents her work at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and at the Woman’s Building, a pavilion dedicated to women that incorporates a hundred female artists from around the world during the Universal Exhibition of 1893 in Chicago.
She also painted on porcelain.
American artists Catherine Evans, Marie Preble and Rita Potron were his pupils as well as Louise Ferey.
She died a widow in 1940 at her home at 5 rue de Fontenay in Châtillon.
Jean Baptiste Bertrand, known as James (1823-1887)
Jean Baptiste Bertrand, known as James, was a student of Bonnefond at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon between 1839 and 1841, then of Périn at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1842 and 1843. Between 1857 and 1862, he lived in Italy, where he became friends with Carpeaux, Falguière and Clésinger. He exhibited at the Salon from 1857 and was awarded a third-class medal in 1861 and 1863, and a medal in 1869.
After his stay in Italy, his style changed, probably because of his friendships with sculptors. His forms were more solidly modeled, even if his drawing was less vigorous, and his use of color was bolder and more flexible.
From 1867, he painted a series of graceful paintings representing great heroines of history and romance, generally at the moment of their death: Death of Sappho 1867; Death of Virginie 1869; Death of Manon Lescaut 1870; Death of Ophelia 1872; Romeo and Juliet 1874; Madeleine 1875; The Last Day of Charlotte Corday 1883.
Several of his works gained popularity by being engraved. For nearly 12 years, he collaborated with his masters Orsel and Périn on the frescoes of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, in Paris. He also painted The Childhood of the Virgin at St-Louis d’Antin.
Sources: Documentation of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Tomaselli Collection, Bénézit.
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