Fernand Cormon
Bacchanalia of nymphs and satyrs
Oil on canvas
90 x 130 cm
Private collection
Fernand Cormon (24 December 1845 – 20 March 1924) was a French painter born in Paris. He became a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel, Eugène Fromentin, and Jean-François Portaels, and one of the leading historical painters of modern France.
His father was the playwright Eugène Cormon. His mother was Charlotte Furais, the actress.
In the Harem
Oil on canvas
95 x 121 cm
Private collection
Harem refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic servants, and other unmarried female relatives. In harems of the past, concubines, which were enslaved women, were also housed in the harem. In former times some harems were guarded by eunuchs who were allowed inside. The structure of the harem and the extent of monogamy or polygamy has varied depending on the family's personalities, socio-economic status, and local customs. Similar institutions have been common in other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations, especially among royal and upper-class families, and the term is sometimes used in other contexts. More on Harem
Fernand Cormon
In the Harem
Oil on canvas
I have no further description, at this time
Fernand Cormon (1845–1924)
The Harem, c. after 1877
Oil on canvas
Height: 53 cm (20.8 in) Width: 64 cm (25.1 in)
Musée d'art et d'histoire de Narbonne
Fernand Cormon (1845–1924)
The Deposed Favourite, c. 1870
Oil on canvas
I have no further description, at this time
Painted in 1870, early in his career, The deposed Favourite portrays the cut-throat world of the harem. There was often intense rivalry and power struggles between the kadins, or favourites, who aspired to higher rank and greater power and who would employ any means to achieve it. This intrigue led to plots of bribery, extortion and frequently, as in Cormon's 1874 masterpiece, Jealousy in the Seraglio, murder. In the present work, as the old kadin begs for clemency from the eunuch's waiting axe, 'the new favourite seems singularly unconcerned about the fate of her old rival' More on this painting
Ferdinand-Anne Piestre dit Fernand Cormon
The new favorite
Oil on canvas
49 by 38cm., 19¼ by 15in.
Private collection
Cormon had rather occasional relationships with the Orient. He only ventured once to Tunisia, in 1875, a stay which perhaps inspired his paintings. He painted a few orientalist paintings, playful, humorous and very imaginative, often inspired by the Thousand and one nights, for example A harem , kept at the Museum of Art and History of Narbonne (See above). More on this painting
Fernand Cormon (1845–1924)
Jalousie au Sérail/ Murder in the Serail, c. 1874
Oil on canvas
Height: 160 cm (62.9 in); Width: 220 cm (86.6 in)
Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie de Besançon
A serail is the sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubines in an Ottoman household. The term harem is a generic term for domestic spaces reserved for women in a Muslim family, which can also refer to the women themselves. More on a serail
At an early age he attracted attention for the perceived sensationalism in his art, although for a time his powerful brush dwelled with particular delight on scenes of bloodshed, such as the Murder in the Seraglio (1868) and the Death of Ravara, King of Lanka at the Toulouse Museum. The Musée d'Orsay has his Cain fleeing before Jehovah's Curse; and for the Mairie of the fourth arrondissement of Paris he executed in grisaille a series of panels: Birth, Death, Marriage, War, etc. A Chiefs Funeral, and a series of large paintings for the Museum of natural history in Paris with themes from the Stone Age, occupied him for several years. He was appointed to the Legion of Honor in 1880. Subsequently he also devoted himself to portraiture.
Fernand Cormon
Cain, c. 1880
Oil on canvas
H. 400.0; L. 700.0 cm.
Musée d'Orsay
This painting illustrates the fate of Cain, eldest son of Adam and Eve, who after the murder of his younger brother Abel is condemned to flee perpetually. Cain painfully leads his tribe. His sons carry a wooden stretcher on which stand a bewildered woman and her dozing children. They carry pieces of bloody meat. Other men accompany them, hunters. One of them carries a young woman in his arms and a few dogs bring up the rear. The faces betray the fear of Jehovah's sentence.
Cormon lengthened the shadows, as if the light of truth was pursuing the guilty across the barren plain. The artist is concerned with anatomical accuracy: he has a living model for each figure placed in his studio.
Grandiloquent epic, the work is also an anthropological reconstruction. It introduces an unprecedented field, that of prehistory, even though we are discovering Paleolithic cave paintings. For lack of documents, Cormon speculates on life in those remote times, the existence of barbarians struggling for survival, going barefoot, disheveled hair, rough skin. More on this painting
Fernand Cormon
Hagar et Ismael
Oil on canvas
44¾ x 57¾ in
Private collection
Hagar is a biblical person in the Book of Genesis Chapter 16. She was an Egyptian handmaid of Sarah, who gave her to Abraham "to wife" to bear a child. The product of the union was Abraham's firstborn, Ishmael, the progenitor of the Ishmaelites.
After Sarah gave birth to Isaac, and the tension between the women returned. At a celebration after Isaac was weaned, Sarah found the teenage Ishmael mocking her son, and demanded that Abraham send Hagar and her son away. She declared that Ishmael would not share in Isaac's inheritance. Abraham was greatly distressed but God told Abraham to do as his wife commanded because God's promise would be carried out through both Isaac and Ishmael.
The name Hagar originates from the Book of Genesis, and is only alluded to in the Qur'an. She is considered Abraham's second wife in the Islamic faith and acknowledged in all Abrahamic faiths. In mainstream Christianity, she is considered a concubine to Abraham. More on Hagar
Fernand Cormon
The Battle of Aspern-Essling, May 1809
Oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mulhouse
In the Battle of Aspern-Essling Napoleon attempted a forced crossing of the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies were driven back by the Austrians under Archduke Charles. It was the first time Napoleon had been personally defeated in a major battle. Archduke Charles drove out the French but fell short of destroying their army. The Austrian artillery dominated the battlefield, firing 53,000 rounds compared to 24,300 French. More on the Battle of Aspern-Essling
Fernand Cormon (1845–1924)
La Mort de Ravana/ The Death of Ravana, c. 1875
Oil on canvas
Height: 180 cm (70.8 in); Width: 260 cm (102.3 in)
Augustins Museum
Ravana was a king of the island Lanka and the chief antagonist in the Hindu epic Ramayana and its adaptations.
In the Ramayana, Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and Rakshasi Kaikesi. He abducted lord Rama's wife Sita and took her to his kingdom of Lanka, where he held her in Ashok Vatika. Later, Rama, with the support of vanara King Sugriva and his army of vanars, attacked Ravana in Lanka. They killed Ravana and Rama rescued his beloved wife Sita. More on Ravana
Attributed to Fernand Cormon
Study for La mort de Ravana, circa 1875
Oil on canvas
78 x 98 cm
Private collection
Fernand Cormon
Cephalus and Procris
Oil on canvas
h: 40,50 w: 64,50 cm
Private collection
Cephalus was married to Procris, a daughter of Erechtheus, an ancient founding-figure of Athens. One day the goddess of dawn, Eos, kidnapped Cephalus when he was hunting. The resistant Cephalus and Eos became lovers, and she bore him a son. However, Cephalus always pined for Procris, causing a disgruntled Eos to return him to her, making disparaging remarks about his wife's fidelity.
Once reunited with Procris after an interval of eight years, Cephalus tested her by returning from the hunt in disguise, and managing to seduce her. In shame Procris fled to the forest, to hunt. In returning and reconciling, Procris brought two magical gifts, an inerrant javelin that never missed its mark, and a hunting hound, Laelaps that always caught its prey. The hound met its end chasing a fox (the Teumessian vixen) which could not be caught; both fox and the hound were turned into stone. But the javelin continued to be used by Cephalus, who was an avid hunter.
Procris then conceived doubts about her husband, who left his bride at the bridal chamber and climbed to a mountaintop and sang a hymn invoking Nephele, "cloud". Procris became convinced that he was serenading a lover. She climbed to where he was to spy on him. Cephalus, hearing a stirring in the brush and thinking the noise came from an animal, threw the never-erring javelin in the direction of the sound – and Procris was impaled. As she lay dying in his arms, she told him "On our wedding vows, please never marry Eos". Cephalus was distraught at the death of his beloved Procris, and went into exile. More on Cephalus and Procris
Fernand Cormon
The Captive
Oil on canvas
Height: 16 in. (40.64 cm), Width: 13 in. (33.02 cm)
Private collection
Despite the stationary central figures, the piece contains an abundance of movement and action, from the rearing horse in the background to the injured man at the feet of the central figures. The stillness and submissive pose of the captive woman are a sharp contrast to the remnants of the fight around her. Her face hidden in her arms in a gesture of fear and anguish as she hovers on the brink of collapse. More on this painting
Fernand CORMON Paris, 1901 - Paris, 1924
Bacchanal of nymphs and satyrs, c. 1901
Oil on canvas
h: 50.50 w: 61 cm
Private collection
Bacchanalia, also called Dionysia, in Greco-Roman religion, any of the several festivals of Bacchus (Dionysus), the wine god. They probably originated as rites of fertility gods. Introduced into Rome from lower Italy, the Bacchanalia were at first held in secret, attended by women only, on three days of the year. Later, admission was extended to men, and celebrations took place as often as five times a month. The reputation of these festivals as orgies led in 186 bc to a decree of the Roman Senate that prohibited the Bacchanalia throughout Italy, except in certain special cases. Nevertheless, Bacchanalia long continued in the south of Italy. More on Bacchanalia
Being well-accepted at the annual Salon, he also ran an art school, the Atelier Cormon in the 1880s where he tried to guide his students to create paintings which would be accepted by the Salon's jury. Among his students with whom he was unsuccessful on this point were, for instance: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Louis Anquetin, Eugène Boch, Paul Tampier, Émile Bernard and Vincent van Gogh. Other students included Alphonse Osbert, Marius Borgeaud, Theodor Pallady, Chaïm Soutine and the Australian painter John Russell.
Fernand Cormon
Suzanne Valadon
Oil on canvas
26.5"H x 22.5"W
Private collection
Suzanne Valadon was a French painter who became the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. She was also the mother of painter Maurice Utrillo.
Valadon spent nearly 40 years of her life as an artist. The subjects of her drawings and paintings included mostly female nudes, portraits of women, still lifes, and landscapes. She never attended the academy and was never confined within a tradition.
She was a model for many renowned artists. Among them, Valadon appeared in such paintings as Dance at Bougival (1883) and Dance in the City by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1883), and Suzanne Valadon (1885) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. More on Suzanne Valadon
Fernand CORMON (1845-1924)
La Javanaise, c. 1876
Huile sur toile
75 x 64 cm
Private collection
Ferdinand-Anne Piestre aka Fernand Cormon
Extended Javanese, c. 1875
Oil on canvas
109.5 x 190.5 cm; 43 1/8 x 75 in
Private collection
The Javanese people are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to the Indonesian island of Java. They form the largest ethnic group in Indonesia. They are predominantly located in the central to eastern parts of the island. More on Javanese people
An article published on Saturday, May 22, 1875 in Le Temps describes the Javanese exhibited by Cormon at the Salon of 1875, in these terms “Her hair, of a deep black, spreads in disorder over the splendors of the purple cushions; The lower part of his body is covered with a veil ”, a description which corresponds perfectly to our table. More on this painting
Fernand Cormon (1845–1924)
In expectation
Oil on canvas
46 x 38 cm
Private collection
Nu/Nude, c. between 1845 and 1924
Oil on canvas
Height: 103 cm (40.5 in); Width: 71 cm (27.9 in)
Musée Toulouse-Lautrec
Despite his moment of glory as a Beaux-Arts professor he was almost forgotten by 1924 when he was run over by a taxi outside his studio, and is barely remembered today save as the teacher of pupils more illustrious than himself. More on Fernand Cormon
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