Jehan Georges Vibert (1840–1902)
The Schism, c. 1874
Oil on panel
38.1 x 53.6 cm
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Jehan Georges Vibert or Jean Georges Vibert (30 September 1840 – 28 July 1902) was a French academic painter
He was born in Paris, the son of engraver and publisher Théodore Vibert, and grandson of the influential rose-breeder Jean-Pierre Vibert. He began his artistic training at a young age under the instruction of his maternal grandfather, engraver Jean-Pierre-Marie Jazet.
Jehan Georges Vibert
Le retour des Reliques/ The Return of the Relics
watercolor and gouache on paper
Private collection
As with many of Vibert’s subjects, the narrative context of Le retour des Reliques is revealed with a close reading of the artist’s Comédie en peinture. There, Vibert recounts the tale of a Breton fisherman who stumbled across a group of white-robed, ghostlike friars joined by an Italian cardinal in red, all of them led in prayer by the booming voice of their bishop as a team of monks carried onto shore a reliquary glinting in the early morning light. The relics were engraved with the admonition “It is a sacrilege to hide me from the light as long as I am in France,” and the return was an elaborate and covert operation. As such, the old fisherman had kept his story a secret since his youth, leaving it to Vibert to record with bold detail, each clergyman’s face a distinct portrait, the expressions and postures signifying the solemnity of the scene, while the tall masts of a ship in the distance and the open crate on the skiff at shore point to the mission.
While many of the artist’s ecclesiastical subjects are comical, the present work is one of the few with a reverent context. French relics had been stolen, hidden, and returned since medieval times, and while the exact episode Vibert depicts may not be historical it clearly communicates the power of faith. Interestingly, Le retour des Reliques was kept in the artist’s personal collection, only sold as part of his estate, suggesting its subject had particular resonance for Vibert. Indeed, in its subject and technique Le retour des Reliques points to Vibert as a man as much of faith as of art and science. More on this painting
In his book La comédie en peinture, Vibert broadly outlines the main themes of his oeuvre with illustrations and narratives of some of his paintings. The present painting is prominently presented in the chapter 'Weaknesses and Vanities', in which the painter subtly pokes fun at the privileged life of the clergy.
Jehan Georges Vibert (French, 1840-1902)
Le choix d'un prédicateur (The audition)
Oil on cradled panel
21 x 28 1/2in (53.5 x 72.5cm)
In Le choix d'un prédicateur, Vibert depicts a monk auditioning for the position of country preacher. The monk comes highly recommended for the vigor and endurance of his sermon, albeit not without rough edges in speech and mannerisms, betraying his plebeian origins. The choice of his sermon is acceptable to the cardinal, however, his interpretation ends up being highly offensive to the delicate ear of the cardinal who perceives the criticism to be directed at him. The scene ends with the monk being interrupted and sent out with a remark of despair that the monk interprets as being of encouragement.
In this work, Vibert masterly displays his ability of conveying social criticism with the subtlest touch of irony and humor, double-entendres and puns. More on this painting
Jehan Georges Vibert (French, 1840-1902)
The startling confession
oil on canvas
21 x 16in (53.4 x 40.7cm)
Private collection
Painted by himself
Oil on panel
81 x 101cm (31 7/8 x 39 3/4in)
Private collection
The painting of cardinals and other high ranking Catholic clergy became a genre in its own right in the latter half of the nineteenth century and it was one that Vibert fully mastered. His gentle mocking of the leading figures of the Church struck a chord at the time and this popularity has survived remarkably well.
Jehan Georges Vibert (French, 1840-1902)
Sermon sur l'abstinence/ Sermon on abstinence
Oil on panel
40.6 x 32.2 cm | 16 x 12.7 inches
Private collectionVibert was more interested in painting than engraving and entered the studio of Félix-Joseph Barrias and eventually the École des Beaux-Arts when he was sixteen. He remained at the École for six years under the instruction of history painter François-Edouard Picot.
Vibert debuted at the Salon of 1863 with La Sieste (The Siesta) (See below) and Repentir (Repentance).
Jehan Georges Vibert (French, 1840-1902)
Napoleon playing against Cardinal Fesch
Oil on Panel
29"x 38"
Haggin Museum
Check, by Jehan-Georges Vibert, depicts an event from the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Despite his grandfather’s hero-worship of Napoleon, Vibert, the thorough iconoclast, mocks even him. The famous general has just been placed in check – perhaps both literally and figuratively – by his wily uncle, Cardinal Joseph Fesch (1763-1839). Fesch, who owed his high ecclesiastical position as well as his magnificent art collection to his nephew, smugly takes a pinch of snuff. Vibert may have caught a cardinal meddling in politics. More on this painting
Jehan-Georges Vibert
Planning Napoleon's Coronation
Oil on panel
Private collection
The event's elaborate planning began soon after Napoleon's proclamation of empire in May, and Paris was quickly transformed with streets and bridges expanded to accommodate the expected crowds, new honorary monuments commissioned, and once-empty shopkeepers' windows filled with the sumptuous cloth, sparkling jewels, and fine foods demanded by the new court and their many guests.
In the present work, Pope Pius VII is flanked by the soon-to-be crowned Emperor and Empress, as Isabey kneels on the floor atop the unfurled cathedral plan, bundles of unused dolls lie near his feet, while the representations of Napoleon, Josephine and their attendants stand in regal procession. In Vibert's work the dolls' arrangement generally follows the figural arrangement of Jacques Louis David's Coronation of Napoleon (1808, Musée du Louvre)—a painting which itself was a dramatic interpretation of actual events in which David used a series of dolls to plan out the complex composition. More on this painting
Jehan-Georges Vibert (French, 1840–1902),
The King of Rome , 1900
Oil on panel
32 1/2 x 47 in.
Joslyn Art Museum
First exhibited at the Universal Exhibition of 1900 in Paris, The King of Rome by Jehan Georges Vibert depicts Emperor Napoleon I declaring his son, Napoléon François Charles Joseph Bonaparte, or Napoleon II, the King of Rome. The painting contains around thirty figures, namely Napoleon I, elevated on a platform, sitting with his infant son in a gold armchair. Cardinal Ercole Consalvi, the pope’s diplomatic representative, passes reverently – and perhaps resentfully, judging by his somewhat sullen facial expression – in front of the Emperor while Napoleon’s uncle, Cardinal Fesch, gestures dramatically with his biretta (hat) in the left foreground. A host of officials appear behind Cardinal Consalvi at the right, including a seated Empress Marie Louise, Napoleon’s second wife and the child’s mother. Other attendees include Napoleon’s marshal and brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, who wears the plumed hat, and Prince Poniatowski, a marshal of France, who appears against the wall in the extreme left background. More on this painting
La Sieste
Aquarelle
26 x 36 cm
Private collection
Vibert was a master of the amusing anecdotal scenes that so much appealed to the sophisticated art patrons of Paris. His reputation and renown even earned him an appearance in the fiction of Marcel Proust, whose Duc de Guermantes says of Vibert, 'The man's got wit to the tips of his fingers.'
Jehan Georges Vibert (French, 1840-1902)
Running repairs
Oil on canvas
14 x 24in (26.9 x 37.1cm)
Private collection
Jehan Georges Vibert (French, 1840-1902)
Entry of the Toreadors/ Toreros at Prayer before Entering the Arena, ca. 1870Oil on canvas
H: 17 7/8 × W: 33 1/4 in. (45.4 × 84.4 cm)
Walters Art Museum
Formerly known as "Entry of the Toreadors," this painting should be titled "Toreros at Prayer before entering the Arena. " Eduardo Zamacois and Vibert traveled to Spain and, in 1866, they entered in the Paris salon a collaborative work entitled "Entree des Toreros." The Walters painting, however, originally bore the date of 1871. More on this painting
In 1866, the young Vibert exhibited at the Salon a work done in collaboration with the Spanish-born artist Edouardo Zamacois, Entrance of the Toreadors (See above). Vibert had met the Spanish artist in 1860 and perhaps under his influence traveled several times to Spain. The critic About found the painting 'new and interesting with lively bold coloring' (E. About, Salon de 1866, Paris, 1867, p. 62) and from that point on the artist became a genre painter. He became a master of the small-scale amusing anecdotal scenes which had wide appeal among the sophisticated art patrons of Paris. Proust's Duke of Guermantes says of Vibert, 'The man's got wit to the tips of his fingers.'
Jehan Georges Vibert (French, 1840-1902)
Le retour de la tîme/ The return of the tithe, c. 1888
Oil on canvas
38¼ x 27½ in. (97.7 x 69.8 cm.)
Private collection
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural produce. After the separation of church and state, church tax linked to the tax system are instead used in many countries to support their national church. More on the tithe
The present painting is the second of two known pictures he painted of the same story '. The first was exhibited to great success at the Paris Salon. An Italian girl presses against the wall to allow free passage to the monks, and their donkey, laden with the best meat in the parish... but why this the anxious look from the monk…? More on this painting
During the Franco-Prussian War, Vibert became a sharpshooter and was wounded at the battle of Malmaison in October 1870. He was awarded the Légion d'Honneur and became a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in recognition of his sacrifice. He became an Officier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1882.
Vibert had a long and active association with the stage and all aspects of theatrical life in Paris and the influence of the theater is evident throughout his oeuvre, in which the narrative was always essential.
Jehan Georges Vibert (1840–1902)
Polonius behind the curtain, c. 1868
Oil on panel
Height: 35.6 cm (14 in); Width: 27.4 cm (10.7 in)
Private collection
Polonius is a character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. He is chief counsellor of the play's ultimate villain, Claudius, and the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Generally regarded as wrong in every judgment he makes over the course of the play, Polonius is described by William Hazlitt as a "sincere" father, but also "a busy-body, who is accordingly officious, garrulous, and impertinent". In Act II, Hamlet refers to Polonius as a "tedious old fool" and taunts him as a latter day "Jephtha".
Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet. Hamlet unknowingly kills Polonius, provoking Ophelia's descent into madness, ultimately resulting in her suicide. More on Polonius
Just as Gérôme's treatment of a group of soldiers in the Récréation au Camp, shown at the Salon of 1855, was described as opening the door for the artist to "the camp of the Realists," Vibert's comparable depiction of a motley assortment of eighteenth century French mercenaries after a victorious campaign also brought him great renown. It is a totally imaginary evocation of the era, but fortunately the work is described in detail in Vibert's artistic testament, his partly autobiographic (See below).
Jehan-Georges Vibert
Roll-Call after the Pillage (L'Appel aprés le Pillage), c. 1866
Oil on canvas
Private collection
Vibert submitted work to the Salon until 1899. The popularity of his works spread, notably in America, and fetched high prices including commissions from John Jacob Astor IV and William Vanderbilt. A large collection of works by Vibert was amassed by the heiress May Louise Maytag on behalf of then bishop of Miami Coleman Carroll, who greatly fancied them. This large cache was then donated to the Florida seminary St. John Vianney College in Miami. At this location the impressive collection has had a somewhat checkered conservation history, as well as exhibition history due to the discomfiture of later bishops with the seeming anti-clericalism of the paintings (lighthearted debaucheries, etc.). More on Jehan Georges Vibert
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