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Lot Essay
This painting was first published in the catalogue of the exhibition titled La joie de peindre, de Courbet à Vuillard, held at the Galerie Daber in Paris in 1974. The following year, in an exhibition devoted to the work of Courbet, Daber showed it again. In each of his texts he referred to the study in the context of another image of the same subject, i.e., the top half of the shawled figure in Courbet's well-known painting La Fileuse endormie, a major work that had been bought out of the Salon of 1853 by Alfred Bruyas of Montpellier and bequeathed by him to the Musèe Fabre in that city. This related image, also referred to as an étude, was, at 60 x 50 cms., considerably larger than the present picture. It has been in the Polignac collection in Paris in 1949, when Daber included it in the exhibition he devoted to Courbet that year and reproduced it in the catalogue.
Daber's focus in both 1974 and 1975 was on the difference in the appearance of the model in each of these two images. Convinced that Courbet's sister Zélie was the model for the final painting, he cites Hélène Toussaint's rebuttal of this notion only to deny it. Toussaint quoted Courbet as writing in one of his letters 'J'ai pris une vachère pour ma fileuse,' but Daber is so devoted to the idea of his sister as model that he will not give it up, suggesting only that possibly the model in the smaller picture might have been such a 'cowgirl' but not in the final work or the Polignac picture. The real question, however, has nothing to do with this matter of identification. If the head in the small painting looked different from than in the Polignac picture – and it does – it could much more readily be because the former was made as a quick study from a model, while the latter was not an étude but was made from the finished painting – or possibly from a replica of the finished painting.
This is what has appeared most convincingly to be the case. Because of an error in Courthion's entry (no. 128) on the Polignac picture, its location was given as the Musèe de Compiègne. My research has revealed that a painting titled 'La Fileuse endormie,' and attributed to the atelier of Courbet, was deposited after the war in 1958 at the Musèe de Compiègne. This has now been found to be a representation, not of a partial motif, but of the entire composition. It has in recent years been transferred to the museum in Epinal. Without seeing it it is not yet possible to attempt a judgment on whether or not it might be an artist's replica. What can be said from a photograph is that the head of the painting now at Epinal and that of the Polignac painting (Fernier, cat.134) have certain similarities, particularly in the line around the top of the lip and the heavy slanting of the eyelid. The Polignac painting (never having been in Compiègne or any other museum), was sold some years ago in Japan, and was briefly seen in New York in 1998. Seeing it at that time, I was convinced that it was not a study, but must have been made from the large finished work. I then knew nothing about the replica, but now that I have seen this photograph of it, I am even more sure of that.
The present painting, on the other hand, seen by me for the first time after it came on the Paris market in 1999, appears to have the characteristic feel of a study from the model, with the artist more interested in the set of the head and hair than in specific features, and particularly interested in the visual challenge of the patterns created by a boldly stripped shawl that is folded several times and reflecting the light in different ways. The attack of the brush is strong, and the flesh is solid. Although small studies for large paintings are not common in Courbet's oeuvre as we know it, I believe this is convincing example. - Sarah Faunce, October 2000.
We are grateful to Sarah Faunce for confirming the authenticity of this work.
The authenticity of the painting has also been confirmed by Jean-Jacques Fernier, and it will be included in the supplement to the Courbet catalogue raisonné.
(fig.1) Gustave Courbet, Fileuse endormie
© Bridgeman Images
Daber's focus in both 1974 and 1975 was on the difference in the appearance of the model in each of these two images. Convinced that Courbet's sister Zélie was the model for the final painting, he cites Hélène Toussaint's rebuttal of this notion only to deny it. Toussaint quoted Courbet as writing in one of his letters 'J'ai pris une vachère pour ma fileuse,' but Daber is so devoted to the idea of his sister as model that he will not give it up, suggesting only that possibly the model in the smaller picture might have been such a 'cowgirl' but not in the final work or the Polignac picture. The real question, however, has nothing to do with this matter of identification. If the head in the small painting looked different from than in the Polignac picture – and it does – it could much more readily be because the former was made as a quick study from a model, while the latter was not an étude but was made from the finished painting – or possibly from a replica of the finished painting.
This is what has appeared most convincingly to be the case. Because of an error in Courthion's entry (no. 128) on the Polignac picture, its location was given as the Musèe de Compiègne. My research has revealed that a painting titled 'La Fileuse endormie,' and attributed to the atelier of Courbet, was deposited after the war in 1958 at the Musèe de Compiègne. This has now been found to be a representation, not of a partial motif, but of the entire composition. It has in recent years been transferred to the museum in Epinal. Without seeing it it is not yet possible to attempt a judgment on whether or not it might be an artist's replica. What can be said from a photograph is that the head of the painting now at Epinal and that of the Polignac painting (Fernier, cat.134) have certain similarities, particularly in the line around the top of the lip and the heavy slanting of the eyelid. The Polignac painting (never having been in Compiègne or any other museum), was sold some years ago in Japan, and was briefly seen in New York in 1998. Seeing it at that time, I was convinced that it was not a study, but must have been made from the large finished work. I then knew nothing about the replica, but now that I have seen this photograph of it, I am even more sure of that.
The present painting, on the other hand, seen by me for the first time after it came on the Paris market in 1999, appears to have the characteristic feel of a study from the model, with the artist more interested in the set of the head and hair than in specific features, and particularly interested in the visual challenge of the patterns created by a boldly stripped shawl that is folded several times and reflecting the light in different ways. The attack of the brush is strong, and the flesh is solid. Although small studies for large paintings are not common in Courbet's oeuvre as we know it, I believe this is convincing example. - Sarah Faunce, October 2000.
We are grateful to Sarah Faunce for confirming the authenticity of this work.
The authenticity of the painting has also been confirmed by Jean-Jacques Fernier, and it will be included in the supplement to the Courbet catalogue raisonné.
(fig.1) Gustave Courbet, Fileuse endormie
© Bridgeman Images