Thursday, June 10, 2021

24 Works, Today, June 2nd. is Charles Landelle's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #151

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
Women at Prayer
Oil on canvas
11.5 x 18 in
Private collection

Catholic women and children in prayer with nuns in the background.

Zacharie Charles Landelle (2 June 1821 – 13 October 1908) was a French painter who specialized in portraits. He is best known for his Orientalist works.

He was born in Laval, where his father was employed by the préfecture. In 1827, his family moved to Paris when his father was transferred and he would not return to his hometown until near the end of his life. In 1837, at the age of sixteen, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-arts, where he studied with Paul Delaroche and Ary Scheffer. After trips to Italy and the south of France, he copied the Old Masters at the Louvre. He began by painting portraits largely as a means of supporting himself.

Charles Zacharie Landelle, 1812-1908
La Renaissance, c. 1853
Oil on canvas
H. 264, l. 198
Musee National du Chateau, Fontainebleau | France
Commissioned in 1848 for the decoration of the Salle des Bijoux of the Louvre museum

Charles Zacharie Landelle, 1812-1908
VAE VICTORIBUS! WOE TO THE VICTORS! c. 1871
Oil on canvas
25 3/4 by 15 5/8 in., 64.4 by 39.5 cm.
Private collection

Vae victoribus! Victory is a poor advisor, and nations tend to slip on the blood they have shed. Rome under its Caesers did not suspect that its Vae victis would apply in equal measure to Rome itself. After every victory, there's a new tomorrow. Waterloo follows Austerlitz. And so, too, our cry: Victor, beware! More on Vae victoribus

Charles Zacharie Landelle (French, 1812-1908)
The Storm, c. 1879
Oil on canvas
51 1/8 x 32 in. (130 x 81 cm.)
Private collection

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
Young woman in a landscape, c. 1844
Oil on canvas
85 x 57.5 cm
Private collection

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
A Quick Rest by the Fountain, c. 1865
Oil on canvas
55 by 39 3/4 in , 139.7 by 101 cm 
Private collection

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
Beautiful woman reading
Oil on canvas
52 x 120 cm
Private collection

These were a great success and he had his first exhibit at the Salon in 1841. His works came to the attention of King Louis-Philippe and he was awarded a medal. Soon, he became an official painter and received numerous state commissions. His portrait sitters also now came from a higher level of society. In 1852, Napoleon III bought several of his works and became a great admirer. Thanks to him, Landelle was awarded the Legion of Honor in 1855.

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
La sirène, c. 1879
Oil on canvas
H 134 x W 85 cm
Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum

According to Greek myths, sirens were powerful and erotic creatures, and many unsuspecting sailors would fall prey to their seductive beauty. The common belief was that they would devour sailors after their ships would crash into the rocks, as most men couldn't resist the temptation of their sweet melodies and angelic faces. More on The Fisherman and The Siren

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
Ismenie, Nymph of Diana, c. 1878
Oil on canvas
 130.0 x 87.0 cm
Art Gallery of NSW

A nymph in Greek and Latin mythology is a minor female nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from other goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing; their amorous freedom sets them apart from the restricted and chaste wives and daughters of the Greek polis. They are beloved by many and dwell in mountainous regions and forests by lakes and streams. Although they would never die of old age nor illness, and could give birth to fully immortal children if mated to a god, they themselves were not necessarily immortal, and could be beholden to death in various forms. More on nymphs

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
FONTANA
Oil on canvas
H x W in cm 55 x 38
Museum of Fine Arts of Reims

At the foot of large rocks, a young naiad leaning on an urn, with a stream.

In Greek mythology, the Naiads are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water.

They are distinct from river gods, who embodied rivers, and the very ancient spirits that inhabited the still waters of marshes, ponds and lagoon-lakes, such as pre-Mycenaean Lerna in the Argolis.

Naiads were associated with fresh water, as the Oceanids were with saltwater and the Nereids specifically with the Mediterranean, but because the ancient Greeks thought of the world's waters as all one system, which percolated in from the sea in deep cavernous spaces within the earth, there was some overlap. Arethusa, the nymph of a spring, could make her way through subterranean flows from the Peloponnesus, to surface on the island of Sicily. More on Naiads

In 1857, he married Alice Letronne (1832–1882), daughter of the archaeologist Jean-Antoine Letronne who had served as Garde Général of the Archives Nationales and helped save them during the February Revolution. They had two sons who both predeceased their father.

In 1859, he received a major commission from the Emperor to decorate the salon of the Élysée Palace. He painted six doorways with allegories of the Four Elements plus Peace and War. He was very prolific overall, producing somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 works, counting duplicates. One painting was redone in twenty-three different versions.

Attributed to Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
Orientalist street scene
Oil on panel
33 x 24 cm. 
Private collection

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
Al Kantara
Oil on original canvas
32 x 54 cm 
Private collection

El Kantara is a town and commune in Biskra Province, Algeria. The 1911 Baedeker travel guide described it as "one of the most important caravan-stations in E. Algeria." The town is well known for the eponymous gorge nearby, described by locals as the "Mouth of the Desert". The area was named El Kantara by Arab conquerors. More on El Kantara

After voyages to North Africa and the Middle East in 1860, he produced a number of Orientalist works. He also visited Morocco in 1866, but went as part of an official delegation rather than as a painter. In 1875, he went to Egypt and sailed the Nile with the explorer Auguste-Édouard Mariette. Every year after, he made painting trips to Algeria. He became known as the peintre des fellahs (painter of fellahs).

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
THE FELLAHA
Oil on canvas
131 x 84 cm 
Private collection

A Fellah is a farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa. The word derives from the Arabic word for "ploughman" or "tiller".

Due to a continuity in beliefs and lifestyle with that of the Ancient Egyptians, the fellahin of Egypt have been described as the "true Egyptians".

A fellah could be seen wearing a simple Egyptian cotton robe called galabieh (jellabiya). The word galabieh originated around 1715–25 and derived from the Egyptian slang word gallabīyah. More on the Fallah

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
L'ORIENTALE/ THE ORIENTAL
Oil on canvas
55.5 by 38.5cm., 22 by 15in 
Private collection

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
Juive de Tanger/ Tangier Jewess, c. 1866
Oil on canvas
H x W in cm 61.4 x 50.6
Museum of Fine Arts of Reims

Young woman of three-quarter length left, in bust, in traditional costume.

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
JEUNE FILLE À LA COURONNE DE LIERRE/ YOUNG GIRL WITH IVY CROWN
Oil on canvas
37,79 x 27,16 in 
Private collection

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
Algérienne jouant de la Darbouka/ Algerian woman playing the Darbouka, c. 1886-1887
Oil on canvas
54 1/4 x 38 in. (137.5 x 96.5 cm.) 
Private collection

The darbouka is a percussion instrument with a determined sound that is part of the membranophones . According to its variants, it is a vase strangled in its middle and covered at one of its ends with a membrane, widespread throughout North Africa , and in the Middle East and the Balkans .

It would date from 1100 BC. AD and it is one of the main percussion instruments of the Arab world. More on the darbouka

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
Odalisque
Oil on canvas
37.5 x 45.8 cm. (14¾ x 18 in.)
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


Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
Odalisque au collier de perles/ Odalisque with a pearl necklace, c. 1864
Oil on canvas
94 x 145 cm ; 37 by 57 in 
Private collection

He later began a campaign to create an art museum in Laval, which he inaugurated in 1895, along with President Félix Faure. Today, it is known as the Musée des Sciences [fr].

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
Judith, c. 1887
Oil on canvas
H 138 x W 99.5 cm
Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum

The Book of Judith is the Old Testament of the Bible. The story revolves around Judith, a daring and beautiful widow, who is upset with her Jewish countrymen for not trusting God to deliver them from their foreign conquerors. She goes with her loyal maid to the camp of the enemy general, Holofernes, with whom she slowly ingratiates herself, promising him information on the Israelites. Gaining his trust, she is allowed access to his tent one night as he lies in a drunken stupor. She decapitates him, then takes his head back to her fearful countrymen. The Assyrians, having lost their leader, disperse, and Israel is saved. Though she is courted by many, Judith remains unmarried for the rest of her life. More on The Book of Judith

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
La Vierge et les saintes femmes allant au sépulcre/ The Virgin and the holy women going to the sepulcher
Oil on panel
h: 21,60 w: 15,90 cm 
Private collection

The sepulcher is a small room or monument, cut in rock or built of stone, in which a dead person is laid or buried.

On the third day after the Crucifixion, women visiting Christ's tomb are greeted by two angels surrounded by a blazing light of celestial radiance [Luke 24:4]. The angels deliver the astonishing news of the Resurrection. Each woman reacts differently to the miraculous announcement, contemplating the profound significance of what they have heard.

Charles Zacharie Landelle (French, 1812-1908)
In Mourning
Oil on canvas
51 x 32½ in. (129.5 x 82.6 cm.)
Private collection

Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
Les Femmes de Jérusalem captives à Babylone/ Women of Jerusalem held captive in Babylon
H. 232; L. 163
Oil on canvas
Musee Ingres, Montauban, France

Illustration from the Psalm of David 136 On the banks of the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept, remembering Zion. From the willows of the country we had hung our harps. There our overcomers asked us for songs, and our oppressors for joy: Sing to us some of the songs of Zion. How would we sing the songs of the Lord in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalein, let my right hand be forgotten. May my tongue stick to my palate, if I do not remember you, if I do not make Jerusalem the main subject of majesty. Andemel, remember the children of Edom, who said in the day of Jerusalein, Shave, shave to its foundations! Miserable daughter of Babylon, happy who returns the favor to you for the harm you have done to us! Miserable daughter of Babylon! More on this painting

After Charles Zacharie Landelle (France, 1821 - 1908)
Ruth (or The Gleaner)
Oil on canvas
H. 56; l. 39;
Soissons museum

Ruth was a Moabite woman had come to Israel as the widow of an Israelite man. She had returned with her mother-in-law, Naomi, who had also lost her husband. They lived together in a humble situation, and Ruth would go to the fields each day to glean food in the fields during the harvest.
 
Boaz was a landowner where Ruth came to find grain. He knew of her situation and told his workers to leave plenty of grain for her to find. Boaz also offered her food with the other workers and encouraged her to work in the safety of his fields throughout the harvest.
 
Naomi noted that Boaz was a close relative who, according to Jewish law, had the right to marry Ruth after the death of her husband. Naomi encouraged Ruth to go to Boaz in the evening and present herself willing to accept a marriage proposal from him. When she did, he was pleased, yet noted that there was one relative who was closer in line to marry Ruth.
 
The next day, Boaz met with this relative and presented the situation. The relative turned down the offer as he felt it would cause harm to his own family situation. Boaz then made a commitment in front of the town’s leaders that he would take Ruth as his wife. More about Ruth 

He died in Chennevières-sur-Marne in 1908, without descendants. The largest number of his works are in Laval, but may also be seen at the Louvre, the Palace of Versailles, Musée Ingres, Musée des beaux-arts de Reims, Musée de Grenoble and the Musée des beaux-arts de Rouen. More on Zacharie Charles Landelle




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