Alexis-Joseph MAZEROLLE (1826-1889) - Lot 385

Alexis-Joseph MAZEROLLE (1826-1889) The Triumph of Venus, circa 1880 Oil on canvas for painted ceiling, signed lower right 368 x 660 cm (missing paint, tears, cracks and restorations) Alexis-Joseph Mazerolle (1826-1889) was one of the most famous artists of his time. A former student at the Beaux-Arts, he was noticed at the Salon, where he exhibited from 1847 and won several medals. It wasn't long before he received major commissions from the State and important French and foreign institutions: tapestry cartoons for the Palais de l'Élysée, now in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, for Charles Garnier's Opéra, the ceiling of the Comédie Française, the fresco on the dome of the Paris Bourse de Commerce (now the Pinault Collection), decorative panels for the stage of the Conservatoire d'art dramatique in Paris, ceilings for the Baden Baden theater and the Vaudeville. Princes, politicians and industrialists also sought his services, including the Duc d'Aumale for ceilings that have unfortunately been lost, Count Mazewski, Prince Stourdza, the Marquis d'Angerville and the Marquise de Landolfo-Carcano, and many others throughout Europe and as far afield as New York. His works are housed in the most prestigious national and international institutions, including, in addition to those already mentioned, the Petit Palais, La Piscine in Roubaix, the Musée de la Musique, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires and the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum in Saint Louis (USA). Venus and Psyche were a favorite subject for Mazerolle's decorations, such as the ceiling he created for the Hôtel Continental, the Hôtel Dehaynin, rue de Rivoli, for Count Mazewski and the former Hôtel Landolfo-Carcano. The commission for a Triomphe de Vénus for the Hôtel Garfounkel is well known. The final sketch was presented in 1881 at the Salon des Arts Décoratifs, under number 118, but was not reproduced. The canvas offered for sale today may correspond to this lost ceiling. The sketch for this large painting was presented in 2015 at the exhibition Alexis-Joseph Mazerolle, itinéraire d'un grand décorateur, at the Musée de La Piscine in Roubaix and reproduced in the catalog. The work is presented in an oval created by a painted lattice. Against a background of blue sky, clouds ranging from luminous white to soft gray support the two main figures: the goddess seated in front of a red curtain and the half-lidded Psyche, pouring a liquid into a cup, surrounded by lovers inspired by the great 18th-century decorators such as Van Loo.