Missing treasure: Delacroix canvas rediscovered, now on sale
Long-lost 19th century Eugene Delacroix painting not seen in public for nearly 170 years resurfaces in a Parisian home
- Eugene Delacroix study for ‘Women of Algiers’ was not seen in public since 1850
- French Romantic artist’s work was sold by the Count de Mornay 170 years ago
- Paris woman had it for 10 years before noticing it was similar to Delacroix’s work
- She took it to Philippe Mendes’s gallery where experts analysed its authenticity
A long-lost painting not been seen in public for almost 170 years has been unearthed in a Paris home.
A Parisian woman discovered she had a long-forgotten oil painting by 19th century artist Eugene Delacroix after visiting the Louvre and noticing her piece had striking similarities with the French Romantic’s work.
After seeing his ‘Women of Algiers in their Apartment’ at the Delacroix exhibit she then went to another gallery in Paris to find out more.
Art experts analysed the painting and revealed it was a study piece for ‘Women of Algiers’ that was sold in 1850 and had not been seen in the art world since.
However, no one would comment on the possible value of the painting.
The most recent owner of the picture, who had owned it for around 10 years, visited Philippe Mendes and told him about her discovery.
Eugene Delacroix’s oil painting ‘Women of Algiers in their Apartment’ at the Galerie Mendes in Paris last Friday
Philippe Mendes, owner of the Galerie Mendes, speaking at the presentation of Eugene Delacroix’s oil painting ‘Women of Algiers in their Apartment’ in Paris
Mendes, director of the Mendes Gallery in Paris said: ‘A woman walked into the gallery with a painting under her arm, telling me she’d just visited the Delacroix exhibit at the Louvre Museum… and that she thought her painting shared some resemblance with the artist’s ”Women of Algiers in their Apartment”.
‘I took a look at the painting, which was dirty and with a very thick yellow varnish, but I felt it had Delacroix’s very particular style. So I said, let’s clean the painting and let’s see what comes out of it.
‘After we cleaned it, the radiant and extraordinary colours typical of Delacroix really stood out and we knew we had to start doing some real research.’
The painting, now hanging in his gallery as he negotiates with a US museum seeking to buy it, shows a pale woman seated and an African slave standing next to her, looking at the other woman over her shoulder.
The same scene is captured in ‘Women of Algiers in their Apartment’, which was painted after in 1833 to 1834 after Delacroix visited North Africa. That painting now lives in the Louvre.
Art historian and Delacroix expert Virginie Cauchi-Fatiga investigated the curious canvas at Mendes’ request.
The number ‘118’ is pictured on the back of the frame of Delacroix’s painting that was registered when a study of his work was sold in 1850 by the Count de Mornay
Virginie Cauchi-Fatiga, a Delacroix expert, analysed the technique and use of colours, compared it with other Delacroix paintings, then used infrared and X-ray images to determine its authenticity
She analysed the technique and use of colours, compared it with other Delacroix paintings, then used infrared and X-ray images to look deeper.
After more than a year of examination, her verdict was that it was an ‘absolute certainty’ that the painting is a Delacroix work, a study for ‘Women of Algiers’.
The study was sold at auction in 1850 and hadn’t been shown in public since.
She called it a discovery ‘of prime importance, because it really is a gateway into the artist’s mind right at the moment’ he was working on ‘Women of Algiers’.
‘The colours are distinctive of Delacroix’s work, but it’s also about how they are associated,’ she said.
‘He doesn’t use colour in the same way as other big classical painters – colour is not an accessory for him. He shapes his painting around colours.’
The painting bears no Delacroix signature, since it is only a study, she said – but does bear a stamp at the back of the canvas reading ‘118’.
That matches the number listed for the study in the catalogue of paintings sold at auction in 1850 by the Count de Mornay, a diplomat who sponsored Delacroix’s trip to North Africa, Mendes said.
Philippe Mendes pointing to the ‘118’ label at the back of Eugene Delacroix’s oil painting
Lot 118 was bought for a private collection, and its subsequent movements aren’t known.
The Parisian woman bought the painting about 10 years ago with her father, but does not want to be publicly identified, Mendes said.
He also showed the canvas to experts at French museums that hold Delacroix paintings and received an export certificate from the Culture Ministry identifying it as a Delacroix work.
The National Eugene Delacroix Museum in Paris and its parent, the Louvre, would not comment on the painting because it is on the open market, but did not question its authenticity.
The Metropolitan Museum in New York, which hosted a Delacroix exhibit in 2018, would not comment on a work outside its collection.
Paul Exbrayat of the Britain-based Art Loss Register said the painting had not been listed on international databases as missing or stolen, and described it as just long-dormant.
‘It has woken up from a long slumber, like Sleeping Beauty,’ he said.
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