Gustave Claude Etienne Courtois (French, 1853–1923)
Auguste au tombeau d'Alexandre/ Augustus at the tomb of Alexander, c. 1878
Oil on canvas
Vesoul, musée Georges-Garret
Standing in the center, draped in red, is Octavian—soon to be named Augustus—who used a combination of politics and war to wrest for himself control of the Roman Empire in the aftermath of Julius Caesar’s assassination. He stands over the mummified remains of a much older, long-dead conqueror. The incredibly preserved body, dressed in white clothing, outfitted with armor, is that of Alexander the Great, whose remains were brought by Ptolemy I Soter for entombment in Alexandria.
Octavian's war against Marc Antony and Cleopatra brought him to Egypt, where the latter two took their own lives while under siege in 30 BCE. After Octavian’s victory over his two deceased rivals, he stayed behind in Egypt to shore up his control over the region, and to do some sightseeing—including, as seen above, a visit to the tomb of Alexander the Great. More on this painting
Gustave-Claude-Étienne Courtois, also known as Gustave Courtois (French: [18 May 1852 in Pusey, Haute-Saône – 1923 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French painter, a representative of the academic style of art.
Gustave Claude Etienne Courtois (French, 1853–1923)
Daphnis and Chloe
Oil on Canvas
114 x 114 cm. (44.9 x 44.9 in.)
Private collection
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 goatherder discovers Daphnis, and a shepherd 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. A wise old cowherder, explains to them what love is and tells them that the only cure is kissing. They do this.
Eventually 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." Throughout the book, Chloe is courted by suitors, two of whom 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. In the end, Daphnis and Chloe are recognized by their birth parents, get married, and live out their lives in the country. More on Daphnis and Chloe
Gustave Claude Etienne Courtois (French, 1853–1923)
Sleeping Dionysos
Presented a the Salon of 1906
Oil on canvas
Pontarlier Museum
Gustave Claude Etienne Courtois (French, 1853–1923)
Orphée, c. 1875
Oil on wood
Pontarlier, Musée municipal
Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones, with his music, his attempt to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld, and his death at the hands of those who could not hear his divine music.
Orpheus took part in this adventure and used his skills to aid his companions travelling as an Argonaut. Chiron told Jason that without the aid of Orpheus, the Argonauts would never be able to pass the Sirens—the same Sirens encountered by Odysseus in Homer's epic poem the Odyssey.
Orpheus had abstained from the love of women, either because things ended badly for him, or because he had sworn to do so. Yet, many felt a desire to be joined with the poet, and many grieved at rejection.
Feeling spurned by Orpheus, the Ciconian women first threw sticks and stones at him as he played, but his music was so beautiful even the rocks and branches refused to hit him. Enraged, the women tore him to pieces during the frenzy of their Bacchic orgies.
His head and lyre, still singing mournful songs, floated down the swift Hebrus to the Mediterranean shore. There, the winds and waves carried them on to the Lesbos shore, where the inhabitants buried his head and a shrine was built in his honour near Antissa. More on Orpheus
Courtois's work depicts the hero's decapitated head, washed up on a beach on the island of Lesbos. This motif was launched in 1865 by Gustave Moreau with Young Thracian Girl Carrying the Head of Orpheus. Taken up by many artists, the theme becomes an imposed subject for the Prix de Rome of 1877. Courtois gives a morbid vision, in a smooth and invisible touch. The range of grays is animated by a few notes of ocher in the rocks, the laurel wreath or the lyre, recalling the past glory of the musician. The calm of the composition contrasts with the violence of the massacre. More on this painting
Courtois was born to an unwed mother who was devoted to him. Early in life, Courtois revealed an interest in art and entered the École municipale de dessin in Vesoul (Franche-Comté). His drawings were shown to Jean-Léon Gérôme, and in 1869, Gérôme encouraged Courtais to enter the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Through his life, Courtois was in close friendship with fellow student Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret, together with whom he maintained a fashionable studio in Neuilly-sur-Seine from the 1880s.
He taught painting at Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Académie Colarossi, Paris, where Harriet Campbell Foss, Georges d'Espagnat, Eva Bonnier, Emma Cheves Wilkins, and Dora Hitz were students.
Gustave Claude Etienne Courtois (French, 1853–1923)
Dante and Virgil in the Underworld; circle of traitors to the fatherland , 1879
Oil on canvas
299 x 215 cm
Besançon, Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology
Dante Alighieri, often referred to simply as Dante, was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His Divine Comedy, originally called Comedìa and later christened Divina by Giovanni Boccaccio, is widely considered one of the most important poems of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary work in the Italian language. More on Dante
Gustave Claude Etienne Courtois (French, 1853–1923)
Madame Gautreau, c. 1891
Oil on canvas
H. 106,0 ; L. 58,5 cm.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France
The model was an American expatriate who married a French banker, and became notorious in Parisian high society for her beauty and rumored infidelities. She wore lavender powder and prided herself on her appearance. Her unconventional beauty made her an object of fascination for artists. John Singer Sargent anticipated that a portrait of Gautreau would garner much attention at the upcoming Paris Salon.
Although she had refused numerous similar requests from artists, Gautreau accepted Sargent's offer in February 1883. Sargent was an expatriate like Gautreau, and their collaboration has been interpreted as motivated by a shared desire to attain high status in French society.
Seven years later Gustave Courtois painted her. As in the earlier painting, the portrait shows her face in profile. She wears the same style of dress, with Courtois's portrait showing a bit more skin. The strap of her dress hangs off her shoulder much as it had in Sargent's portrait. This time, however, the portrait was well received by the public. More on this painting
Gustave Claude Etienne Courtois (French, 1853–1923)
The young oriental musician
Oil on canvas
Private collection
Courtois exhibited at the Salon de Paris, receiving a third-place medal in 1878 and a second-place medal in 1880. He was awarded a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle in 1889 and exhibited at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts from 1911 to 1914. He was made a Chevalier in the Légion d'Honneur.
His paintings can be seen in the art galleries of Besançon, Marseille, Bordeaux, and Luxembourg. He was a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Among his students were Willard Dryden Paddock, Mary Rose Hill Burton, and Sara Page. More on Gustave-Claude-Étienne Courtois
Gustave Claude Etienne Courtois (French, 1853–1923)
Adam and Eve
Oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts of Besançon
Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman and the ancestors of all humans. The story of Adam and Eve is central to the belief that YHWH created human beings to live in a paradise on earth, although they fell away from that state and formed the present world full of suffering and injustice. It provides the basis for the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. It also provides much of the scriptural basis for the doctrines of the fall of man and original Sin, important beliefs in Christianity, although not generally shared by Judaism or Islam. More on Adam and Eve
Gustave Claude Etienne Courtois (French, 1853–1923)
The Martyrdom of St. Maurice, modeled by Carl Ernst von Stetten
Oil on canvasI have no further description, at this time
Saint Maurice was an Egyptian, born in AD 250 in Thebes, an ancient city in Upper Egypt that was the capital of the New Kingdom of Egypt. He was the leader of the legendary Roman Theban Legion in the 3rd century, and one of the favorite and most widely venerated saints of that group. He was the patron saint of several professions, locales, and kingdoms. He is also a revered saint in the Coptic Orthodox.
He was an acknowledged Christian at a time when early Christianity was considered to be a threat to the Roman Empire. Yet, he moved easily within the pagan society of his day.
The legion, entirely composed of Christians, had been called from Thebes in Egypt to Gaul to assist Emperor Maximian in defeating a revolt by the bagaudae. Before going into battle, they were instructed to offer sacrifices to the pagan gods and pay homage to the emperor. Maurice pledged his men’s military allegiance to Rome. He stated that service to God superseded all else. He said that to engage in wanton slaughter was inconceivable to Christian soldiers. He and his men refused to worship Roman deities.
Ordering the unit to be punished, Maximian had every tenth soldier killed, a military punishment known as decimation. More orders followed, the men refused compliance as encouraged by Maurice, and a second decimation was ordered. In response to the Theban Christians' refusal to attack fellow Christians, Maximian ordered all the remaining members of his legion to be executed. The place in Switzerland where this occurred, known as Agaunum, is now Saint-Maurice, Switzerland, site of the Abbey of St. Maurice. More on Saint Maurice
Carl Ernst von Stetten was a Franco-German portrait and genre painter who worked in France.
Carl Ernst von Stetten came from the wealthy Stetten banking family . He began his studies on October 16, 1876 in the class of antiquities at the Royal Academy of Arts in Munich. He then came to Paris in the 1880s to study painting with Jean-Léon Gérôme . He attended the Académie Julian under Gustave Boulanger , Gustave Courtois , Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre.
Courtois and von Stetten had a lifelong friendship. Von Stetten was often a model for his friend for portraits and nudes. The friends spent the First World War together in Ticino .
He won a medal at the Salon de Paris in 1889 and at the Chicago exhibition in 1893. More on Carl Ernst von Stetten
Gustave Claude Etienne Courtois (French, 1853–1923)
St. Sebastian, modeled by Carl Ernst von Stetten
Oil on canvas
I have no further description, at this time
Saint Sebastian (died c. 288 AD) was an early Christian saint and martyr. Sebastian had prudently concealed his faith, but in 286 was detected. Diocletian reproached him for his betrayal, and he commanded him to be led to a field and there to be bound to a stake so that archers from Mauritania would shoot arrows at him. "And the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an urchin is full of pricks, and thus left him there for dead." Miraculously, the arrows did not kill him.
Sebastian later stood by a staircase where the emperor was to pass and harangued Diocletian for his cruelties against Christians. This freedom of speech, and from a person whom he supposed to have been dead, greatly astonished the emperor; but, recovering from his surprise, he gave orders for his being seized and beat to death with cudgels, and his body thrown into the common sewer. A pious lady, called Lucina, admonished by the martyr in a vision, got it privately removed, and buried it in the catacombs at the entrance of the cemetery of Calixtus, where now stands the Basilica of St. Sebastian. More St. Sebastian
His paintings can be seen in the art galleries of Besançon, Marseille, Bordeaux, and Luxembourg. He was a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Among his students were Willard Dryden Paddock, Mary Rose Hill Burton, and Sara Page. More on Gustave-Claude-Étienne Courtois
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