Léopold Robert (1794-1835) Follower From: Large Oil On Canvas

Léopold Robert (1794-1835) Follower From: Large oil on canvas, frame gilded with gold leaf Period: first part of the 19th century In the prestigious setting of the Bay of Naples and following the shore of the gulf, a merry caravan returns of the legendary pilgrimage to the Madonna of the Arc. Every year, on the feasts of Pentecost, the Neapolitan population flocks to the venerated sanctuary, less perhaps to pray there than to make a gita in the countryside. Now, on that day, the gulf shone under the immaculate azure of the sky and the light vapor rising from Vesuvius attested to the serene immobility of the air. The party was certainly charming, as our pilgrims showed great enthusiasm. On the advancing cart, drawn by two oxen with golden horns and whose yoke is decorated with foliage, a young girl is seated, dressed in the traditional Neapolitan costume; in her right hand she holds a crook garlanded and carrying a bouquet. Behind her, a young man, standing, leans slightly and takes her by the waist. Seated next to her, a peasant woman tries to detach the banner from a bouquet carried by a singer at the front of the cart, next to a little musician. In the back, another eontadino, his legs dangling, sings to the accompaniment of the mandolin. Two children, on foot, precede the float, singing and dancing; one of them carries a thyrsus on his shoulder, the other strikes the string of a musical instrument, made of three wooden mallets. On the left, peasants come forward singing. The Return from the Pilgrimage to the Madonna of the Arc painting painted by Léopold Robert This pleasant composition was part of a series of Seasons that Léopold Robert, in order to rejuvenate the subject, had designed in a very picturesque way. The Return from the Pilgrimage symbolized Spring. Another of his paintings, no less famous, represented Autumn: it is the Halte des Moissonneurs in the Marais-Pontins. To depict Winter, the painter, who was then in Venice, neglected the hackneyed subject of Carnival and gave the Departure of the fishermen of the Adriatic for long-distance fishing. The tragic end of the unfortunate artist left the series unfinished. Léopold Robert enjoyed a great reputation during his lifetime, perhaps superior to his merit. His fame was subsequently much debated: he was criticized for his lack of inspiration, his indecision, his endless trial and error, his dry outlines and his somewhat rocky color. These criticisms are partly justified. Léopold Robert worked slowly, constantly returning to the character already made, erasing, resuming, erasing again. One of his paintings, like Corinne improvising at Cape Miseno, was repeated a hundred times to finally become a Neapolitan improviser. Léopold Robert nevertheless possessed remarkable qualities: if he was indecisive and timid, in art as in his private life, he redeemed these faults with a passionate love of nature which imparts to all his paintings a grace, a naturalness, and even a spontaneity. beneath which the effort of his trial and error disappears. Above all a genre painter, his works did not take off, but they are honest, conscientious and bear witness to a highly developed sense of the picturesque. All his paintings are honorable; two of them, the Return of the Pilgrimage and the Halte des Moissonneurs are masterpieces. Is more needed to illustrate a painter? When he exhibited his Halte des Moissonneurs in Paris, the success was triumphant and, at the end of the Salon, the king himself attached the cross of the Legion of Honor to his chest. of the artist. Famous in France, Léopold Robert was no less so in Italy, where the greater part of his short life was spent. His successes earned him the most flattering favours; he benefited from illustrious friendships with which his candid soul was dazzled and which brought tragedy to his life. He was in Florence when he was called to give lessons to Princess Charlotte Bonaparte, daughter of King Joseph, and wife of Louis Napoleon, elder brother of the future Napoleon III. The princess was good, comely, and familiar; she loved the talent of the artist. In the intimacy of daily work and in the abandonment of friendly conversations, the poor painter, new Ruy-Blas, fell in love with his pupil, violently, and forever, "worm in love with a star", he hid his passion from the princess but, deep in his heart, he nourished the impossible hope that the daughter of kings would one day bow to him. In 1831, the death of Louis Napoleon seemed to bring him closer to his idol, but the latter, ignorant of the feelings of the painter or pretending to ignore them, heard nothing "of the murmur of love raised in his footsteps", Léopold Robert then understood the immensity of his error, he measured the abyss which separated him from the princess. Disillusioned but not cured, he left Florence and came to Venice to hide his inconsolable pain. To try to forget, he threw himself headlong into work, but his deep melancholy saddened his last works which bear the imprint of this state of mind. And as the inaccessible image always obsessed him, the unfortunate painter, in a fit of despair, cut his throat on May 30, 1835. He was only 41 years old. Le Retour du Pèlerinage appeared at the Salon of 1827; it was bought for 4,000 francs by the State.