Virginia Museum of Fine Arts acquires "Battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs" by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Thursday, 18 December 2008 22:43

 

RICHMOND, VA - The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts board of trustees has approved the acquisition of a heroic Academic painting by French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905), a beaded buffalo mask from the Bamum kingdom of Cameroon, three versions of French artist Antoine-Louis Barye’s “Pheasant” sculpture, and 29 fine, decorative and ceremonial objects given in memory of the museum’s late curator of 20th-century art.

The Bouguereau painting, “The Battle between the Centaurs and Lapiths,” is an 1852 oil on canvas measuring 49 by 68-5/8 inches. The large-scale work depicts a central element of the story of a mythological battle as recounted by the Greek poet Homer in the Iliad. The Lapiths and the Centaurs were longstanding pre-Hellenic enemies. In a peacemaking effort, the Lapiths invited the Centaurs to a wedding feast at which the Centaurs got drunk and attempted to abduct the bride.

In antiquity, the tale was seen as an example of the conflict between civilization and barbarism.

“Academic art dominated French painting of the period and is the school of art most often contrasted with Impressionism. Impressionist painting, known for having been painted from life and for its spontaneous brushwork, modern subjects and intense color, was a rebellion against Academic painting and the Salons, with its controlled brushwork, references to ancient sculpture and subjects from the distant past,” says VMFA Director Alex Nyerges.

“Filling the gap in the VMFA collection of 19th-century French Academic art is a major priority for us, and this painting is precisely on point,” he says.

Dr. Mitchell Merling, VMFA’s Paul Mellon Curator and Head of the Department of European Art, says Bouguereau is, for many, “the most outstanding and today the most well-known and generally popular of the French Academic painters.” He calls the museum’s new acquisition “an exemplary Academic painting because it was done as an exercise when the young Bouguereau was a student at the Roman branch of the French Academy.”

The painting was acquired through the museum’s Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund.

The Barye “Pheasant” sculptures were executed in bronze. Each stands about 4-3/4 inches tall. One, from about 1845, is a master model. The second, dated 1846, is a cast made by Barye himself in his studio. The third, from about 1887-93, was made by the Barbedienne foundry in Paris.

Barye (1796-1875) was a sculptor whose importance cannot be overemphasized, curator Merling says. “He revolutionized the field with the idea that the animal as subject and the small-scale bronze were valid means of artistic expression. By his example, and through his pupil Auguste Rodin, he led the way to modern sculpture.”

The three sculptures were given to the museum by Mrs. Nelson St. Clair of Williamsburg, Va., who has formed what Merling calls a “superb and important collection” of works by Barye and other artists who specialized in animal sculptures. Her intention is that the entire collection will be given eventually to VMFA, making the museum a destination for the study of Barye sculpture.

Visit The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts at : http://www.vmfa.state.va.us/

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