Gustave Moreau, 1826 Paris - 1898 ibid.

Gustave Moreau,
1826 Paris - 1898 ibid.

LEDA AND THE SWAN, CA. 1875

Oil on panel.
25.5 x 17 cm.
Signed “Gustave Moreau” lower left. Lacquer seal of “Paul Tesse” on the reverse.

The present work, created ca. 1875, depicts the moment in Greek mythology when Leda, the wife of the King of Sparta, is seduced by Zeus. Zeus appears in the shape of a swan and has fled into her arms to seek protection from an attacking eagle. Moreau first painted the myth of Leda and the Swan in 1846 in an unfinished, large oil painting on canvas measuring 230 x 205 cm, which is held at the Musée Gustave Moreau in Paris. The inspiration for this subject is classical and differs markedly from his later style, as it combines the Leda myth with Christian imagery in an unusual way as it depicts the bird with a halo and putti approach carrying a crown. In addition to the present work, Mathieu records two other different approaches to this subject from the same period: a Camaieu watercolour measuring 21 x 12 cm held at the collection of the Musée Gustave Moreau and an oil painting measuring 32 x 23 cm held in a private collection. A slightly later watercolour version painted ca. 1882 and measuring 34.2 x 22.2 cm, was sold at auction at Sotheby’s in New York on 4 November 2011. This work, as the present one, are characterized by their particularly powerful composition, in which the symmetry between Leda and the Swan converges in a V-shape near the centre of the painting.

Provenance:
Paul Tesse (his seal “PT” on the reverse).
His estate auction: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 11 March 1876, lot 40.
John Saulnier, Bordeaux.
His estate auction: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 5 July 1886, lot 67.
Charles Hayem, 1889.
Louis Mante, ca. 1906.
His estate auction: Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 28 November 1956, lot 9.
Christie’s, Paris, 15 April 2013, lot 82.
Agnews, London.

Literature:
Paul Leprieur, Gustave Moreau et son oeuvre, 1889, p. 446.
Paul Flat, Gustave Moreau, in: La Revue de l’Art et les Artistes, April 1926, p. 242 with ill.
Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau. Sa vie, son oeuvre. Catalogue raisonnée de l’oeuvre achevé, Paris 1976, p. 313, no. 145, with ill.
Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau. Monographie et nouveau catalogue de l’ouvre achevé, Paris 1998, no. 166, with ill. (as Léda, Le Cygne et l’Amour with unknown location).

Exhibitions:
Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Gustave Moreau, 1906, no. 79 (on loan by Louis Mante).