Praeterita

While researching a new blog post about seeing Eugene Delacroix's murals in the church of St. Sulpice, Paris, I came across this announcement from the Journal of the Society of Arts, 1864: It's a report of the sale of the entire contents of his studio, which is on the Rue Furstenberg in the St Germain des Pres district -- and which I wrote about visiting two years ago. Certain details indicate the excitement of the writer, even in what is otherwise a report of objects and prices: "contains no less than 858 lots," "numerous and remarkable decorative works of art." It goes on to describe the sketchbooks and watercolours: The final part of the notice talks about the success of the sale, and the large sums of money being paid for the works: The final total is between 7,000 and 8,000 pounds, which would be roughly 600,000 pounds at the current exchange (I used a chart from the Bank of England's website to do the conversion). A later notice, a...

Me outside the studio building. I didn't go into the Louvre during my recent Paris trip. But I did visit the Musee Delacroix, which is in the house-garden-studio occupied by Eugene Delacroix at the end of his life, between 1857 and 1863. Even if you don't know Delacroix's work that well, or you only know him as the painter of the big historical canvas Liberty Leading the People, it's still worth visiting, for a variety of reasons: You get to see some fine smaller paintings and statues. You see sketches and sketchbooks that give you a glimpse of his working process. You see lots of the personal objects he collected, particularly from his life-changing visits to north Africa. You get to stand inside his studio. And all this without the crush of crowds inside the Louvre. From top: two of Delacroix's painting toolboxes, including a palette; one of his sketchbooks For someone like me, who feel in love with Delacroix's work shortly after I left...

My wife and I flew to Paris on January 2nd, arriving at Charles de Gaulle on the morning of the 3rd -- her birthday. After dropping our suitcases at a VRBO apartment in Montparnasse, we had a quick lunch and a beer at a brasserie around the corner, on the bustling thoroughfare of Rue Daguerre. We slept for a few hours, then celebrated Patty's birthday with a classic French meal at the Cafe du Rendezvous, on the corner of the Place Denfert-Rochereau. In two meals, I made two early mistakes with my rusty French: thinking I ordered a small beer, only to find that I'd really ordered a pint and a half; thinking I'd ordered a medium-to-well done steak, only to see a pool of blood squirt out from it at the first touch of a fork. In each case, by the way, I manfully finished off everything I was given. The next morning I walked about 200 metres to the nearest boulangerie and brought back a warm, fresh baguette for breakfast. The apartment was a well-appointed third-floor walk...

From a journal entry dated June 22, 1863: "The first quality in a picture is to be a delight to the eyes. This does not mean there need be no sense in it; it is like poetry which, if it offend the ear, all sense in the world will not save from being bad. They speak of having an ear for music: not every eye is fit to taste the subtle joys of painting. The eyes of many people are dull or false; they see objects literally, of the exquisite they see nothing." The journals ends on this date. Seven weeks later, on August 13, 1863, Delacroix died at the age of 65.   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated March 8, 1860: "An artist should not treat himself like an enemy. He ought to believe that there is value in what his inspiration has given him."   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated January 27, 1860: "The practice of an art demands  a man's whole self. Self-dedication is a duty for those who are genuinely in love with their art."   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated January 15, 1860: "It takes great audacity to dare to be oneself, and this quality is particularly rare in a period of decadence like the present."   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated March 1, 1859: "There is something naive, and at the same time daring, about the dawn of an artist's talent, not unlike the graces of childhood and just as happily careless of the conventions that govern grown-up people. This is what renders still more astounding the daring which the greatest masters displayed towards the end of their careers. To be bold when one has a reputation to lose is the surest sign of strength."   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From an inscription in the flyleaf of his 1859 Journal: “Addresses of models given to me by Corot: Madame Hirsch, rue Lamée, No. 6. Superb head, brunette, same type as la Ristori. Adele Rosenfeld, rue du Marché-Sainte-Catherine, No. 5. Reclining pose seemed to me superb. Josephine Leclaire, rue de Calais, No. 4. Very elegant, beautiful figure, thin arms. ”   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated October 29, 1857: “I believe that a simple drawing is sufficient to allow one to brood over an idea, so to speak, and at the same time to bring it to birth.”   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated January 25, 1857: “To be successful in art one must cultivate it throughout one’s lifetime. ”   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated January 25, 1857: “Without daring, without extreme daring even, there is no beauty.”   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated January 13, 1857: “Painting does not always need a subject. ”   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated January 13, 1857: “The best sketch is one that sets the artist’s mind at rest about the outcome of his picture.”   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated October 10, 1855: "What I require is accuracy for the sake of the imagination."   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated 30 September, 1855: "It is absolutely essential that at some moment in their careers, artists should learn not to despise everything that does not come from their own inspiration, but to strip themselves of the almost blind fanaticism which prompts us all to imitate the great masters and to swear by them alone."   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated September 15, 1854: “David once said to a man who wearied him with his talk of processes, methods, etc.: ‘I knew all that before I knew anything at all.’”   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated October 20, 1853: “How I adore painting! The mere memory of certain pictures gives me a thrill that stirs me to the depths of my soul.”   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated October 17, 1853: “I began to make something tolerable of my African journey only when I had forgotten the trivial details and remembered nothing but the striking and poetic side of the subject. Up to that time, I had been haunted by that passion for accuracy that most people mistake for truth.”   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader

From a journal entry dated September 28, 1853: “We do not realize the extent to which mediocrity abounds.”   Subscribe to Praeterita in a reader