The Negro Scipion
The Negro Scipion | |
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Artist | Paul Cézanne |
Year | 1867 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 107 cm × 83 cm (42 in × 33 in) |
Location | São Paulo Museum of Art, São Paulo |
The Negro Scipion is an early painting by Paul Cézanne. The painting depicts a model, Scipion, in Cézanne's studio. Scipion is portrayed with an elongated torso with a muscular back, accentuated by broad brushstrokes.[1] Cézanne used a variety of colors to modulate the tone of Scipion's back. Art historians consider the painting to be among the strongest works of Cézanne's early career, as it surprised many visitors to Monet's studio in Giverny, including Louis Vauxcelles, who described it as a “striking masterpiece” and deemed it “worthy of Delacroix”.[2]
Context and analysis
Scipion was a model at the Académie Suisse, where Cézanne studied after arriving in Paris in 1862. Little else is known about him, but scholars speculate that he also posed for a plaster by Philippe Solari, which is exhibited at the Salon of 1868 titled Nègre endormi (Sleeping Negro).[2]
Scholars have offered various interpretations of the painting, often suggesting that Scipion is mourning over the death of an unknown person. Scholars also speculate that Cézanne may have initially included another figure in the painting in the area of the white mass, which he later painted over.[2]
The painting belonged to Monet, who owned thirteen other works by Cézanne. He kept this painting in his bedroom along with other favorite works. He considered it to be "un morceau de première force" ("a work of the greatest strength"). Originally, Monet acquired this canvas from Ambroise Vollard and subsequently passed to his son, Michel Monet, who sold it to the dealer Paul Rosenberg. The Museu de Arte in São Paulo purchased it from the Wildenstein Galleries in 1950.[3]
Comparison
The Negro Scipion, with its thick brush strokes, is often linked with Cézanne's painting The Abduction, dated 1867. Due to its similarity in style, both in the type of model and in the style of long brush strokes and unique form, scholars assign the two paintings to the same date. The Abduction is one of Cézanne’s few pictures that bear a date, allowing scholars to more firmly secure the date of The Negro Scipion. Scholars regard the painting as one of three important works that Cézanne executed in either Paris or Aix in that year (The Negro Scipion, The Abduction, and Mary Magdalen).[4]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/The_abduction.png/220px-The_abduction.png)
See also
References
- ^ Cahn, Isabelle (c. 1995). Paul Cézanne 1839-1906. Paris : Somogy. p. 42.
- ^ a b c Cachin, Françoise (1995). Cézanne. New York : H.N. Abrams in association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art. p. 99.
- ^ Dombrowski, André (2013). Cézanne, murder, and modern life. Berkeley : University of California Press. p. 39.
- ^ Cachin, Françoise (1996). Cézanne. New York : H.N. Abrams in association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art. p. 43.
External links
Media related to Scipio the Negro at Wikimedia Commons
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- List of paintings
- The Negro Scipion (1867)
- The Overture to Tannhäuser (1869)
- L'Estaque, Melting Snow (c. 1871)
- The Hanged Man's House (1873)
- L'Après-midi à Naples (c. 1876)
- The Eternal Feminine (c. 1877)
- View of Auvers-sur-Oise (1879–80)
- Three Bathers (1879–1882)
- Portrait of Louis Guillaume (1879–1882)
- Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley (1882–1885)
- Chestnut Trees and Farm at Jas de Bouffan (c. 1884)
- Mont Sainte-Victoire seen from Bellevue (1885)
- House in Provence (1885)
- Chestnut Trees and Farm at Jas de Bouffan (c. 1886)
- Mont Sainte-Victoire with Large Pine (c. 1887)
- Portrait of Madame Cézanne with Loosened Hair (1883–1887)
- The Banks of the Marne (1888)
- Pierrot and Harlequin (1888–1890)
- Still Life with Peaches and Pears (1888–1890)
- View of the Domaine Saint-Joseph (late 1880s)
- The Basket of Apples (c. 1893)
- Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier (1893–1894)
- The Boy in the Red Vest (1894–1895)
- Portrait of Gustave Geffroy (1895)
- Bridge Across a Pond (1895–1898)
- Seated Peasant (c. 1892–1896)
- Portrait of Ambroise Vollard (1899)
- Pipe Smoker Leaning on a Table (1895–1900)
- Women Bathing (c. 1900)
- Lady in Blue (c. 1900)
- Pyramid of Skulls (1901)
- Forest (1902–1904)
- The Bunch of Flowers (1902–1904)
- The Bathers (1898–1905)
- Still Life with Teapot (1902–1906)
- La Montagne Sainte-Victoire vue du bosquet du Château Noir (1904)
![Self-Portrait with Palette, 1890](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Paul_C%C3%A9zanne%2C_c.1890%2C_Portrait_de_l%27artiste_%C3%A0_la_palette%2C_oil_on_canvas%2C_92_x_73_cm%2C_Foundation_E.G._B%C3%BChrle.jpg/80px-Paul_C%C3%A9zanne%2C_c.1890%2C_Portrait_de_l%27artiste_%C3%A0_la_palette%2C_oil_on_canvas%2C_92_x_73_cm%2C_Foundation_E.G._B%C3%BChrle.jpg)
- The Card Players (1890–1895)
- Mont Sainte-Victoire (1904–1906)
- Marie-Hortense Fiquet (model and wife)
- Homage to Cézanne (1900 painting)
- The Impressionists (2006 series)
- Cézanne and I (2016 film)
- Cézanne (crater)
- Corbarimys cezannei
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