(1800 Paris 1890)
View of the Austrian section at The Great Exhibition in London in 1851
Pencil, quill, ink and watercolor, enhanced with gouache
243 x 504 mm
Signed lower left : EUGENE LAMI
1852
(sold in pairs with the View of the Russian section at The Great Exhibition in London in 1851)
Provenance: Commissioned by Anatole Demidoff, prince of San Donato ; San Donato’s sale, 8th, 9th and 10th March 1870, n°324 ; Emile Boussod.
Exhibition:Eugène Lami, Peintre de décorateur de la famille d’Orléans, musée Condé de Chantilly, 23rd February – 19th May 2019, n°38.
Literature: Eugène Lami, Pierre-André Lemoisne, 1914, n°864, 870 et 871 (gathered today) ; Eugène Lami, Peintre et décorateur de la famille d’Orléans, Nicole Garnier-Pelle and Mathieu Deldicque, in collaboration with Caroline Imbert, Edition Faton, Les Carnets de Chantilly, 2019, n°38 reproduced p. 83.
True profusion and display of artistic wealth as industrial of most countries of the world The Great Exhibition remains in memory as the place of the fanciful splendor of the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The first was inaugurated in 1851 on English territory under the large glass plates of the Crystal Palace built specifically for the event by Joseph Paxton. Each nation that had the means to present itself had then to deploy within the assigned section a careful and spectacular staging in order to unveil to the eyes of the world its most wonderful creations and innovations.
A few painters especially watercolourists, became the bard of this new theatre. Among them was Eugène Lami whose talent for drawing the portrait of interiors was recognized to the point of elaborating for King Louis-Phillipe and the Orléans family the decoration projects of most of their royal residences.
His skillful brush able to give all the grace of decorative arts attracted prestigious sponsors such as the prince of San Donato Anatole Demidoff (1812-1870). Rich Russian diplomat and industrialist he owned vast territories in the mountainous regions of the Urals with many mines including malachite. By his privileged economic and political position Demidoff actively participated in the cultural demonstration of Russia during The Great Exhibition and wanted to keep the memory ordering from Lami a series of watercolors one of which is ours.
In this series the main international sections are particularly important and highlighted. Our watercolor is truly an ode to the art object and furniture which the artist portrays with ease and remarkable rendering.
Here the view plunges us in the Austrian section dominated from its central place by an imposing Renaissance style ceremonial baldachin bed. Carved in acacia wood turned columns delimit architectural spans where two niches lined with statuettes of Adam and Eve take place. This level is highlighted by a double pedestal quite sober raising the whole body front of the bed such as a carved wooden altarpiece. A richly ornamented entablature with a frontispiece in the middle crowns this architecture and serves as a basis for the two columns decorated with acanthus leaves that support the canopy of the bed. The fabrics that make it up form sumptuous curtains of damask and purple velvet. This bed a true piece of furniture was made by the cabinetmaker Carl Leistler of Vienna (1805-1857) an artisan in the service of the Prince of Liechtenstein Alois II (1796-1858). Reproduced in The Art Journal of 1851 this bed was part of the furniture of a palatial apartment commissioned to Leistler for The Great Exposition.
To the left of the composition emerging from the frame like a porcelain pot due to its proximity and height there is a sumptuous bronze floor lamp. Designed by Bernardo de Bernardis (1807-1868) it was melted by the foundry of the prince of Salms in Vienna. Again this exceptional piece was reproduced in The Art Journal of the same year.
This is also the case for the fairly massive element that lies in the background in the darkness. This is an imposing and elaborately carved painting holder. This piece of furniture is visible in the back in another room on the work of Louis Hague (1806-1885) comparable to our watercolor highlighting and profile the sumptuous canopy bed described above.
Finally the last object of this view on the right reveals all the refined eclecticism of the furniture which the Austrian empire was able to demonstrate during this event. An opened gothic dressoir crowned by a golden eagle adorned the space on the right in a tone reminiscent of ebony highlighted by the white pearl of a potiche placed nearby. It probably comes from the porcelain factory of Vienna which imitate the Chinese models as the first mentioned next to the lamp.
In his watercolour Lami manages to give these pieces of furniture a particular intensity reinforced by the front of the canopy bed reminiscent of a church decor. An almost religious sacred feeling emerges from this arrangement. The artist’s quick and precise touch is no less generous in details and the play of colors quite sober and washed perfectly transcribes the idea of the memory dreamed and fantasized of this first Great Exhibition in London in 1851.
EUGENE LAMI
Born into a family of imperial officials Eugene Lami was marked in his childhood by military magazines, the spectacle of uniforms and the splendor of the imperial regime at its peak. At the age of 10 he was very impressed by a meeting with Napoleon during a visit to the Museum. His family being related to the Vernet it is quite natural that he becomes friends with Horace who shares his admiration and enthusiasm.
In 1817 Eugene Lami entered the École des Beaux-Arts where he studied under Gros alongside Delaroche and the British watercolourist Bonington with whom he remained very close. He meets Géricault, Chateaubriand and Auber in the workshop of Horace Vernet which was then a centre of liberal opposition to the regime. He naturally began his artistic career as a collaborator of Horace Vernet by illustrating the Collection des uniformes des armées françaises de 1791 à 1814.
He participated for the first time in the Salon des Artistes Français in 1824 with an «Etudes de chevaux» and will exhibit there every year until 1878 except between 1844 and 1847 period when he worked at Chantilly. Decorated with the Legion of Honour in 1837 he was promoted to Officer in 1862 and won a second-class medal at the 1855 Salon. He visited London in 1826 a must for any artist known as the ‘modern’ one.
Despite his liberal views he was chosen to illustrate the famous «Quadrille de Marie Stuart», a memorable ball given to the Tuileries by the Duchess of Berry in 1829. One of the favorite artists of the Orléans and Rothschild Lami will mark with his imprint the history of taste and decoration in France in the 19th century.