GALERIE RATTON-LADRIERE

Pen, black ink, black and grey wash, with white highlights
on black chalk
H. 46.3 cm; L. 39.3 cm (Visual measurements: 56.6 x 45.5 cm
for the entire drawing)
Entitled on the original mount “composition pour une édition de
Jeanne d’Arc” (composition for a book on Joan of Arc);
original frame
Provenance: former Mame collection, Tours

Jean-Paul Laurens was briefly a pupil at the École des Beaux-arts in Toulouse. A municipal scholarship then enabled him to study at the École des Beaux-arts in Paris under Léon Cogniet. His failure to win the Prix de Rome did not prevent him from having a successful career marked by a number of State commissions and purchases, culminating in the Sainte-Geneviève cycle at the Panthéon, unveiled in 1882. In 1885, the Tours publishing house Mame produced a book on Joan of Arc by Marius Sepet, illustrated by leading contemporary artists. Laurens drawing, which comes from the Mame collection, was not chosen for the book. However, it matches a painting, now lost, which can be dated back to the same period. The motif of the circular dungeon, giving movement to the composition while accentuating the dramatic effect, can be found in other works like La Vengeance d’Urbain VI (The vengeance of Urban VI; 1884, not located) and Les Otages (The hostages; 1896, Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts).