Attributed to Jean ALAUX (1786 - 1864) Ulysses... - Lot 46 - Daguerre

Attributed to Jean ALAUX (1786 - 1864) Ulysses Massacring the Suitors of Penelope Canvas Height : 110 cm Width : 148 cm Bibliography : Philippe Grunchec, "Les Concours des Prix de Rome 1797-1863, Tome II", Ecole nationale Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris, 1989, pages 46 to 49 (lost painting). The subject of the Prix de Rome competition in 1812, taken from Homer's Odyssey (book XXII), was as follows the candidates: "Ulysses had left his rags and had rushed into the banqueting hall where the pursuers were gathered. pursuers were gathered. He was armed with his bow and quiver and had poured all his weapons at his feet. Already he had pierced Antinous and made himself known to the frightened pursuers. Eurymachus, one of them had tried in vain to bend him; he had been immolated like Antinous. The pursuers, no longer hoping to obtain mercy to obtain mercy, they decided to defend themselves. Arphimone threw himself upon Ulysses with his sword in his hand, trying to force but Telemachus pierces him with his pike". Dressed in a green tunic, with a lyre at his feet, the poet Phemios implores Ulysses to spare him, arguing that he has been forced that he has been forced to play before the suitors. Telemachus comes to his aid and Odysseus finally lets him go, making him the only survivor of the massacre. So far, six paintings of the ten participants in this event in 1812 are known, including that of the winner Léon Pallière (kept at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts) and those by Thomas Degeorge (Clermont-Ferrand, museum), Hugues-Joseph de Forestier (private collection), Joseph-Ferdinand Lancrenon (private collection), Auguste Vinchon (private collection) and another another anonymous one. The composition by Jean-Baptiste Thomas is documented by a drawing. It therefore remains to to identify those of Pagnest, Auguste Jean Couder, François-Edouard Picot, Jean Alaux. We have retained for stylistic reasons. He finally won the coveted prize three years later, in 1815. The painter was inspired by Jacques-Louis David's Sabines (Louvre), from which he retained the figures of the mature man Tatius on the left for his Ulysses and Romulus, whose naked back had shocked, for his suitor on the right. right, and he changes the position of the shield. Hersilia, who separated them in the centre, has disappeared and is replaced here by Arphimone, threatening with his sword.