French school of the late 18th or early 19th century - Lot 15

French school of the late 18th or early 19th century Head of Heliodorus driven from the temple after Raphael Oil on canvas. H_38 cm W_46 cm Marked "Tête du naufrage de la méduse, étude, attributed to Géricault" by another hand, "du Duc de Vitry". Our intriguing painting takes the head of Heliodorus from the composition painted by Raphael between 1511 and 1512 in the Vatican Stanze. Heliodorus of Antioch, then minister to the Syrian king Seleucus IV, was in charge of desecrating and pillaging the Temple of Jerusalem. The scene shows the desecrator, on the right-hand edge of the composition, being thrown to the ground by a divine rider in response to the prayer of the priest Aria, who occupies the center of the composition. This powerful subject, depicting a man thrown at the feet of a horse, deeply fascinated painters, who regularly reworked it. A number of copies have been made, focusing on the face of Heliodorus. In particular, an engraving preserved in the collection assembled by Ingres and now housed at the Musée Ingres Bourdelle (box no. 3 in the studio documentation assembled by the painter). Created with both lightness and strength, our Héliodore is treated in the manner of a sketch and was probably executed in front of the fresco. It seems essential to relate our painting to the drawing made in Rome by Jean-Pierre Saint-Ours (1752-1809) and kept at the Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève. This drawing testifies to the painter's interest in this Raphael-inspired face. It also highlights the perspective work required to respect the figure's exaggerated, Mannerist character, while softening its features and isolating it in a tighter frame. In his painting The Earthquake (1792-1799), he used a similar perspective for the central figure. Raphael's work in the Stanze, the rooms adjoining the Sistine Chapel, was a real inspiration for painters working in Rome. The young Géricault's body of work includes several sketches inspired by the figure of Heliodorus. This study has long been attributed to him, as evidenced by an old inscription on the stretcher. Expert : Cabinet ARTÉON