Luc-Olivier Merson (French, 1846–1920)
Ange labourant et saint en prière/ Plowing angel and praying saint
Gouache and pencil heightened with gold
24.5 x 32 cm. (9.6 x 12.6 in.)
Private collection
Saint Isidore was born in Madrid, Spain, and farming was to be his labor, working for the same landowner his whole life. While he walked the fields, plowing, planting, and harvesting, he also prayed. He and his wife Maria, who is also honored as a saint, proved to all their neighbors that poverty, hard work, and sorrow (their only child died as little boy) cannot destroy human's happiness if we accept them with faith and in union with Christ. Isidore understood clearly that, without soil, the human race cannot exist too long.
Isidore and Maria often brought food to poor, hungry persons and prayed with them. During his lifetime, Isidore had the gift of miracles. If he was late for work because he went to Mass, an angel was seen plowing for him. More than once he fed hungry people with food that seemed to multiply miraculously. He died after a peaceful life of hard labor and charity. More on Saint Isidore
Luc-Olivier Merson (21 May 1846 – 13 November 1920) was a French academic painter and illustrator also known for his postage stamp and currency designs.
Luc-Olivier Merson (1846–1920)
Soldier of Marathon, c. 1869
Pheidippides giving word of victory after the Battle of Marathon
Oil on canvas
Height: 114 cm (44.8 in); Width: 147 cm (57.8 in)
Private collection
Pheidippides is the central figure in the story that inspired a modern sporting event, the marathon race. Pheidippides is said to have run from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of the victory of the battle of Marathon. More on Pheidippides
Born Nicolas Luc-Olivier Merson in Paris, France, he grew up in an artistic household, the son of Charles-Olivier Merson, a painter and art critic. He studied under Gustave Chassevent at the École de Dessin and then Isidore Pils at the École des Beaux-Arts. Merson had his first work exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1866 and three years later was awarded the Prix de Rome for his painting The Soldier of Marathon (1869) (See above).
Luc-Olivier Merson (1846–1920)
The Arrival at Bethlehem, c. 1897
Oil on canvas
I have no further description, at this time
Luke 2.7 : And Mary gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Luc Olivier Merson’s depiction of the scene shows Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem at night, seeking shelter. Mary sits on the ground, apparently unable to go any further. Joseph pleads with a woman through the window of her house for help. More on this painting
Luc-Olivier Merson (1846–1920)
The Vision, Legend of the 14th Century, c. 1872
Oil on canvas
Height: 290.0 cm; Width: 344.0 cm
Lille, Museum of Fine Arts
A Poor Clare nun in prayer believes that she is hearing a heavenly concert and sees the statue of Christ, before which she is kneeling, come to life and bless her: taken with ecstasy, she falls stretched out on the ground. More on this painting
Luc-Olivier Merson (1846–1920)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c. 1880
Oil on canvas
Height: 71.8 cm (28.2 in); Width: 128.3 cm (50.5 in)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Fleeing persecution at the hands of Roman authorities, the Holy Family takes refuge in Egypt. Joseph dozes beside a dying campfire while his donkey grazes on sparse desert grass. At left the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus, crowned with a halo of light, sleep peacefully in the arms of a sphinx, its eyes turned to the heavens where the first stars have begun to appear. A successful artist within the French Academy, Merson never traveled to North Africa, but his use of archeological detail creates the illusion of an eyewitness account—breathing new life into a time‑honored subject. More on this painting
MERSON, LUC-OLIVIER, Paris 1846 - Paris 1920
LE CHRIST DEVANT MARTHE ET MARIE/ CHRIST BEFORE MARTHA AND MARY
Oil on canvas
107 x 50 cm
Private collection, France
Luc-Olivier Merson (French, 1846–1920)Title:
Saint Martin détruit les idoles/ Saint Martin destroys the idols
Watercolor on paper with gouache
30 x 23 cm. (11.8 x 9.1 in.)
Private collection
St. Martin was born during the reign of the Emperor Constantine the Great, and was the son of a Roman soldier. He himself entered the army at an early age, and was sent into Gaul with a regiment of cavalry. Among his comrades he was loved for his mildness of temper and his generosity.
It happened that he was stationed in the city of Amiens, during a winter of unusual severity. There was great suffering among the poor, and many perished with cold and hunger. St. Martin was riding one day through the city gate, when he passed a naked beggar shivering on the pavement. Immediately he drew rein, and spoke pityingly to the poor creature. The young soldier was wearing over his coat of mail a long mantle. Slipping this garment from his shoulders he divided it with his sword, giving half to the beggar. More on St. Martin of Tours
Luc-Olivier Merson, 1846-1920
The Wolf of Gubbio, c. 1872
Oil on canvas
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, France
“The wolf lived two years in Agubbio and he entered the houses familiarly, door to door, without harming anyone and without being harmed; and he was graciously fed by the inhabitants; and when he went thus through the country and through the houses, no dog ever barked after him. This episode is told in an anonymous 14th century collection. It is linked to the legend of Saint Francis of Assisi .
In this painting by Merson, we see the famous wolf at the butcher's door, a necklace of amulets around its neck and wearing a halo, delicately grasping a piece of meat in its mouth. A little girl caresses him, under the tender and complicit gaze of her mother. Around them, village life unfolds quietly. Near the marble fountain, several inhabitants attend the scene. Only the two merchants, whose figure in green mounted on the prancing horse, express their disbelief.
The sense of detail supports the picturesque scene. The artist, passionate about the Middle Ages, strives to accurately describe the daily life of an Italian city in the 13th century. Admittedly, the decor is realistic, but the general atmosphere is also deeply poetic and the staging almost theatrical. Thanks to his immense talent as a colourist and the precision of his line, Merson transposes the religious subject into a mystical and sentimental fable. More on this painting
Luc Olivier Merson
Saint Edmund the Martyr King of England, c. 1872
Oil on canvas
Musèe de Rennes, France
Edmund the Martyr (also known as St Edmund or Edmund of East Anglia, died 20 November 869) was king of East Anglia from about 855 until his death. He is often, incorrectly, described as the 'first patron saint of England'.
In 869, the Great Heathen Army advanced on East Anglia and killed Edmund. According to Asser and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he died in battle, but by later tradition he met his death at an unidentified place known as Haegelisdun, after he refused the Danes' demand that he renounce Christ: the Danes beat him, shot him with arrows and then beheaded him, on the orders of Ivar the Boneless and his brother Ubba. More on Edmund the Martyr
During the five years spent working in Italy, he concentrated on religious and historical subjects for his art (See above).
Luc-Olivier Merson, (French, 1846-1920)
Notre-Dame de Paris, c. 1881
Series: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, black and white gouache, and graphite
32.6 x 21.7 cm (12 13/16 x 8 9/16 in.)
Cleveland Museum of Art
After creating this drawing, Luc-Olivier Merson went on to illustrate an important 1889 edition of Notre-Dame de Paris Victor Hugo, one of the major projects of his career.
Victor Hugo's celebrated 1831 novel Notre-Dame de Paris tells the story of Quasimodo, a disfigured orphan raised by the archdeacon of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Hugo's novel became an important influence on many artists and helped to define a poetic view of the medieval period and of Gothic architecture that lasted well into the second half of the century. This drawing by Luc-Olivier Merson was reproduced as a wood engraving in an illustrated tribute to Hugo published in 1881. More on this painting
Notre-Dame de Paris, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831.
The novel has been described as a key text in French literature. The novel sought to preserve values of French culture in a time period of great change, which resulted in the destruction of many French Gothic structures and threatened to trivialise the vibrancy of 15th century France. The novel made Notre-Dame de Paris a national icon and served as a catalyst into a renewed interest in the restoration of Gothic form. More on Notre-Dame de Paris
Luc Olivier Merson
A tear for a drop of water, c. 1903
Series: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
I have no further description, at this time
Luc-Olivier Merson (French, 1846–1920)
Mélissinde and Bertrand d'Allamanon
Love from far away
Oil on cardboard
61 x 50 cm. (24 x 19.7 in.)
Private collection
This sketch is an illustration for scene VII, act III of Edmond Rostand's play 'La Princesse lointaine'. This piece, performed in Paris for the first time in 1893 by Sarah Bernhardt in the role of Mélissinde, a princess of the Orient, countess of Tripoli
Princess lointaine, (in French, "distant princess") is a stock character of an unattainable loved figure. The romantic interest of many knights errant, she was a woman of much higher birth, often far distant from the knight, and usually wealthier than he was, beautiful, and of admirable character. Some knights had, indeed, fallen in love with the princess owing to hearing descriptions of her, without seeing her, as tales said Jaufré Rudel had fallen in love with Hodierna of Tripoli. Amour de loin ("Love from long away") is a term used in romances and their study.
Back in France, in 1875 he won the first-prize medal at the exhibition by the Société des artistes français. Notre-Dame de Paris (See above), one of Merson's best-known paintings, was created in 1881 as a result of the huge popularity of the Victor Hugo novel of the same name. With its mystical Gothic imagery, its style reflects the influence of the then evolving Symbolist movement.
Luc-Olivier Merson
L'Eveil du printemps/ Spring awakening
Oil on canvas
25 5/8 x 36 ¼ in. (65.1 x 92.1 cm.)
Private collection
Luc Olivier Merson, 1846 - 1920
STUDY FOR THE FIGURE OF "SPRING" AT L'OPÉRA COMIQUE, PARIS
Oil on canvas
18 by 24 in.; 45.7 by 61 cm.
Private collection
Merson did major decorative commissions for such institutions as the Palais de Justice, the Louis Pasteur Museum, and the mosaic in the chancel vault in the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur. He also did the artwork for stained-glass windows, an example of which can be found in the Church of the Holy Trinity Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His profile was raised considerably after being awarded a gold medal for his painting at the 1889 Exposition Universelle, and in 1892 he was elected to the Académie des beaux-arts.[citation needed]
Luc-Olivier Merson (1846-1920)
The Family, c. 1901
Series: Decoration of Hôtel Watel-Dehaynin
Oil on canvas laid on plaster
H. 222; W. 295 cm
Grand Palais (Musée d'Orsay)
On a terrace overlooking a wooded landscape, a man returns to his wife and children after hunting wild boar. The attitude of each family member is intended to express perfect domestic bliss.
The right hand section of the painting is given over to the symbolic. It is dominated by a figure of Virtue, holding a crown of laurels. Seated next to her, two old men look on benevolently at the young family. The Family reflects an idyllic medieval period, very much in vogue in the 19th century, far removed from industrial society and embodying bourgeois values. More on this painting
Luc Olivier Merson
The truth, in 1901
Series: Decoration of Hôtel Watel-Dehaynin
Oil on mounted canvas
H. 220.0; L. 373.5 cm
Orsay museum, Paris, France
The personification of truth sits naked as the day she was born, under the Latin inscription for truth, veritas. At the left is an artist with palette and brushes, below a musician and poet with a lyre, and at the right a scientist-philosopher with his globe of the stars.
Truth is sitting on an ornate stone wellhead. The darkness of the top of the well is just visible to each side of her buttocks, and below her feet water dribbles gently from the mouth of a lion, to form a small stream. The winged putto who is holding her left arm is raising her mirror in his left hand. Behind his feet is the large pot on a rope which would be lowered into the well to obtain water. This is a long-standing association, seen most notably in Gérôme’s late works depicting Truth. More on this painting
Luc Olivier Merson
La Fortune, c. 1901
Series: Decoration of Hôtel Watel-Dehaynin
Oil on mounted canvas
H. 222,5 ; L. 289,0 cm
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France
Merson was one of the first artists to buy photographs from Eugène Atget.
By 1900 Merson was designing postage stamps for the French post and the Monaco post. He was teaching at the Académie Vitti in 1903. By 1908 he had been contracted by the Bank of France to create a number of designs for some of the country's banknotes. Between 1906 and 1911 he taught at the École des Beaux-Arts, with students such as Clément Serveau, who would also eventually design stamps and banknotes himself. In recognition of his contribution to French culture, Merson was awarded the Legion of Honor. Also during this period, it is reported that Merson had under his tutelage the French painter Henri Alphonse Barnoin.
Luc-Olivier Merson
An Ethereal Beauty with Putti in the Clouds, c. 1885
Oil on panel
24 1/2 x 20 in
Private collection
Merson died in Paris in 1920, his work largely forgotten as a result of the overwhelming popularity of the avant-garde art forms as seen in the works of the Impressionists and other artistic movements. Named as a Knight of the Legion of Honor during his life, he was elevated to the level of Commander posthumously. More on Luc-Olivier Merson
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