Ferdinand Victor Léon Roybet (French, 1840–1920)
Musketeers in the Tavern
Oil on canvas
12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm.)
Private collection
He was born in Uzès. His father was the owner of a café and a liqueur manufacturer who moved his family to Lyon in 1846. He began by studying engraving at the École nationale des beaux-arts de Lyon. After his father's death in 1863, he took his new wife and baby to Paris, where he studied with Jean-Georges Vibert and copied the Old Masters at the Louvre.
Ferdinand Victor Léon ROYBET (Uzès 1840 - Paris 1920)
Saint Irénée Martyr, c. 1863
Oil on canvas
115 x 111 cm
Private collection
Saint Irenee was the daughter of a princelet called Licinius; named Penelope by her parents, through a divine revelation she was brought to faith in Christ and at Baptism was renamed Irene. In her zeal for piety she broke in pieces all the idols of her father, who commanded that she be trampled underfoot by horses. But while she remained unharmed, one of the horses rose up and cast down her father, killing him. By her prayer she raised him to life again, and he believed and was baptized. Afterwards, in many journeyings, Saint Irene suffered torments and punishments for her faith, but was preserved by the power of God, while working dread miracles and converting many thousands of souls. At last she came to Ephesus, where she fell asleep in peace, in the first half of the fourth century. Two days after her death, her gravestone was found lifted off, and her grave empty. More on Saint Irénée
In 1865, after some financial hardships, he presented two paintings at the Salon and, the following year, achieved success when one of his large canvas depicting St. Irene the Martyr, was purchased by Mathilde Bonaparte for 5,000 francs (See above).
Ferdinand ROYBET (1840 - 1920)
Fou sous Henri III/ The Jester of Henri III
I could not find a picture of the original painting
Etching on vellum
Private collection
The subject is King Henri III’s jester, Chicot (ca. 1540-1591). He was christened Jean-Antoine d’Anglerais in the Gascony region of southwestern France, and before becoming a jester, he served in the military. Although Chicot was a genuine historical figure. Roybet’s painting embraces the romance and glamour of Renaissance France—a time when there were cavaliers and swordsmen and jesters, at least in the popular imagination.
he painting is unusual in its close-up emphasis on the figure of Chicot, who is dressed entirely in brilliant red and positioned against an abstract background of green fields and forests. Accompanied by two large dogs, Chicot carries a jester’s staff and sports a gold-trimmed cap with peacock feathers at the front.
The composition won an award at the Salon and it was immediately purchased by Napoleon’s niece, Princess Mathilde Bonaparte. Although Emile Zola described Chicot as a “clothed satyr”, he also proclaimed that it was “an honest painting”; in general, the critical response was positive, and Roybet’s reputation as a promising young artist in mid-century Paris was assured. More on The Jester
Roybet’s first public acclaim came in 1866 with the success of a large painting entitled Fou sous Henri III (The Jester of Henri III) (See above).
He then decided to concentrate on costumed figures, mostly from the 18th century, and was awarded a contract for three canvases per month at an annual salary of 25,000 francs.
In 1872 Roybet set out to explore other parts of the world, this time in Algeria. There he made copious drawings, some of them using a quill pen, of the unfamiliar environments of North Africa. Many of the paintings from this decade reflect his experiences in Algiers, which has led art historians to refer to Roybet occasionally as an Orientalist painter (See above). This is somewhat misleading, however, as the artist also began to paint cavaliers and musketeers during these years.
Ferdinand Victor Léon Roybet, 1840-1920, FRENCH
THE FAVORITE OF THE HAREM
Oil on panel
20 3/4 by 25 1/2 in., 52.7 by 64.8 cm
Private collection
Ferdinand Roybet (French, 1840-1920)
L'odalisque
signed 'F. Roybet' (upper left)
oil on panel
17 x 13.1/8 in. (43.1 x 33.3 cm.)
Private collection
An odalisque was a chambermaid or a female attendant in a Turkish seraglio, particularly the court ladies in the household of the Ottoman sultan. An odalık was not a concubine of the harem, but a maid, although it was possible that she could become one. An odalık was ranked at the bottom of the social stratification of a harem, serving not the man of the household, but rather, his concubines and wives as personal chambermaids. Odalık were usually slaves given as gifts to the sultan by wealthy Turkish men. Generally, an odalık was never seen by the sultan but instead remained under the direct supervision of his mother, the Valide Sultan. More on An odalisque
Ferdinand Roybet (1840–1920)
Odalisque (La Sultane)
Oil on canvas
Private collection
In 1872 Roybet set out to explore other parts of the world, this time in Algeria. There he made copious drawings, some of them using a quill pen, of the unfamiliar environments of North Africa. Many of the paintings from this decade reflect his experiences in Algiers, which has led art historians to refer to Roybet occasionally as an Orientalist painter (See above). This is somewhat misleading, however, as the artist also began to paint cavaliers and musketeers during these years.
Ferdinand Victor Léon Roybet, 1840-1920, FRENCH
A CHOICE
Oil on panel
37 5/8 by 50 3/4 in., 95.5 by 129 cm
Private collection
Ferdinand Victor Léon Roybet (French, 1840–1920)
Mousquetaires devisant
Oil on panel
55 x 44.5 cm. (21.7 x 17.5 in.)
Private collection
Ferdinand Roybet (1840-1920)
The hot hand, c. 1865
Oil on canvas
Courbevoie Museum
Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, Roybet focused on both anecdotal genre paintings and portraiture. Many of his images from this time rely on the popularity of imagined scenes from the seventeenth and eighteenth century France and Spain. Some emphasize the role of art collecting, usually under the guise of Spanish cavaliers admiring artworks; there is a sense of humor in many of these works, but also an emphasis on the importance of understanding cultural heritage.
Ferdinand Roybet (1840–1920)
The Connoisseur, c. 19th century
Oil on panel
25 5/8 x 31 7/8 inches
Private Collection
In The Connoisseur (See above), Roybet takes an even more serious tone in his depiction of an earnest young French cavalier dressed in extravagant lace and velvet and seated at a table full of artworks where he is thoroughly absorbed in examining a stack of etchings and watercolors. This scene belies the more typical costumed melodrama that characterized anecdotal genre paintings in the late nineteenth century. More on this painting
Ferdinand Roybet, French, 1840-1920
The Gypsy Woman, ca. 1871
Oil on canvas
52 1/4 × 38 3/4 inches (132.7 × 98.4 cm)
Detroit Institute of Arts
The Gypsy Woman, sits alone in a stony landscape, head in hand, as a cloud-filled sky threatens rain. In spite of the presumed mystique of gypsy dancers, this woman is presented to viewers as an exhausted figure who has little hope of a dry place to rest, much less a decent meal.
Roybet produced a number of canvases that would have been considered ‘quaint peasants’ in another artist’s hands, but which in fact, portrayed the hardships of poor and working-class people. The Gypsy Woman (See above) is one example; although the title might suggest a kind of overblown romanticized image, it is instead a close-up image of a weary, old woman whose tambourine has seen better days and whose clothing is tattered and worn. In these types of paintings, Roybet demonstrates an affinity for the Realist and Naturalist trends of his time.
Ferdinand Roybet (1840–1920)
Detail; General Joseph Galliéni, c. 1916
Oil on canvas
Joseph Simon Gallieni , born on April 24 , 1849in Saint-Béat ( Haute-Garonne ) and died on May 27 , 1916 at Versailles, was a military and colonial administrator French .
He took an active part in the expansion and consolidation of the colonial empire , especially in Africa. He founded a method which associates brutality, as for example with the massacre of the Menalamba in Madagascar , with economic development after a progressive conquest of the territories. During the First World War, he was the military governor of Paris, and notably took the decision to requisition Parisian taxis to provide reinforcements to the battle of Ourcq . He was posthumously elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France in 1921. Joseph Simon Gallieni
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Portrait de Juana Romani, Ca.1890 Oil on panel 55 x 45.5 cm National museum of fine arts, Buenos Aires |
Roybet Ferdinand Portrait of Juana Romani, c. 1894 The magazine Paris-Noël, published between 1885 and 1900 I have no further description, at this time
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Juana Romani, née Carolina Carlesimo (30 April 1867 – 1923/24) was an Italian-born French portrait painter and artists' model.
Her work was also well received by the critics. In 1896, Louis Gonse of Le Monde moderne [fr] declared that she was more skillful than her mentor, Roybet. She usually painted directly on the canvas, without preliminary sketching, and sold many works before they were finished. More on Juana Romani
Ferdinand Roybet (1840–1920)
Mary Plummer, Clemenceau wife (1849-1922), c. 19th century
Oil on panel
111.7 × 112 cm (43.9 × 44 in)
Private collection
Mary Elizabeth Plummer was an American-born pupil of and later the wife of Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France during Third Republic. Clemenceau arrived in the United States in 1865 after fleeing France due to involvement in radical political activism during the regime of Napoleon III. He eventually taught at a girls school in Stamford, Connecticut, which Plummer attended. The two wed in 1869 and moved to France a year later. Together they had three children. Plummer and Clemenceau separated in 1876 and divorced in 1891.
Though Clemenceau had many mistresses, when his wife took as her lover a tutor of their children, he had her put in jail for two weeks and sent her back to the United States on a steamer in third class. He divorced her, obtained custody of their children and had her stripped of her French nationality. More on Mary Elizabeth Plummer
The artist also relied heavily on portrait painting, most likely to ensure a decent income for his family. Although the names of the sitters are often unknown today, there are many images that are clearly portraits of specific magistrates, soldiers, and children. In addition, he is reported to have painted contemporary figures in historical costume.
Upon his return, he sold the works he had created for 10,000 francs, settled into a mansion and began collecting antiquities from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This eventually led to financial difficulties and his mansion was repossessed by his creditors.
He was named a knight in the Legion of Honour in 1893 and had many wealthy people among his clients – notably Cornelius Vanderbilt, who paid 100,000 francs for one of his works at the Palais de l'Industrie in 1893. He also painted many notable people in period costume, including Count Robert de Montesquiou (See below), Madame Henriette Poincaré and General Joseph Gallieni (See above).
He died in Paris on 11 April 1920. Toward the end of his life, he had turned to religious subjects, producing a tableau of 22 paintings depicting the Passion of Christ. After his death, in 1921, they were the subject of a special showing at the Salon. Six years later, the Musée Roybet Fould was established in Courbevoie by Consuelo Fould, who owned a large number of Roybet's paintings. More on Ferdinand Victor Léon Roybet
Ferdinand Roybet, French, 1840-1920
The Noble Guard, c. 19th or early 20th Century
Oil on cradled wood panel
39 3/8 × 31 1/2 inches (100 × 80 cm)
Detroit Institute of Arts
Roybet’s return to the Salon in 1892 was followed by the submission of Charles le Téméraire entrant à cheval dans l’église de Nesle (Charles le Téméraire entering the Church of Nesle on Horseback) in 1893, for which he received a medal of honor.
ROYBET Ferdinand (1840-1920)
Charles the Bold entering Nesles
I could not find a picture of the original painting
Study for the 1893 Salon painting
Lead pencil
H. 0.293 m; L. 0.311 m
Louvre Museum
Nesle was a little place on a tributary of the Somme which refused Charles the Bold's summons to surrender, sent to it on June 10th. It seems possible that there was a misunderstanding between the citizens and the garrison which resulted in the slaughter of the Burgundian heralds. Whereupon, the exasperated soldiers rushed headlong upon the ill-defended burghers and wreaked a terrible vengeance on the town.
When the duke arrived on the spot, the carnage was over, but he was unreproving as he inspected[page 310] the gruesome result. Into the great church itself he rode, and his horse's hoofs sank through the blood lying inches deep on the floor. The desecrated building was full of dead—men, women, and children—but the duke's only comment as he looked about was, "Here is a fine sight. Verily I have good butchers with me," and he crossed himself piously. More on Charles the Bold
Giovanni Boldini (1842–1931)
Portrait of Robert de Montesquiou, c. 1897
Oil on canvas
Length: 82.5 cm (32.4 in); Height: 116 cm (45.6 in)
Musée d'Orsay
Marie Joseph Robert Anatole, Comte de Montesquiou-Fézensac (7 March 1855, Paris - 11 December 1921, Menton ), was a French esthete , Symbolist poet, art collector and dandy . He is reputed to have been the inspiration both for Jean des Esseintes in Joris-Karl Huysmans ' À rebours (1884) and, most famously, for the Baron de Charlus in Marcel Proust's In search of lost time (1913–1927). He also won a bronze medal in the hacks and hunter combined event at the 1900 Summer Olympics. More on Robert de Montesquiou
He died in Paris on 11 April 1920. Toward the end of his life, he had turned to religious subjects, producing a tableau of 22 paintings depicting the Passion of Christ. After his death, in 1921, they were the subject of a special showing at the Salon. Six years later, the Musée Roybet Fould was established in Courbevoie by Consuelo Fould, who owned a large number of Roybet's paintings. More on Ferdinand Victor Léon Roybet
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