HIPPOLYTE FOURNIER (Rablay, 1852 - Rablay, 1926) THE... Lot 44

HIPPOLYTE FOURNIER (Rablay, 1852 - Rablay, 1926) THE EXTASE OF SAINTE CÉCILE Oil on canvas 228 x 126 cm Exhibition: - Salon des Artistes français, 1899, n°804 "She was, as you already know, without knowing anything yet, the lily of this valley where she grew for heaven, filling it with the perfume of her virtues." Balzac, The Lily in the Valley, 1836 Saint Cecilia, patron saint of musicians In this painting, Fournier depicts Saint Cecilia surrounded by angel musicians. A Christian martyr, she was condemned in 223 for converting many Romans, including her husband Valerian. When the time came for her to die, she heard celestial music, a moment that the artist has chosen to represent. A symbolist work A theme regularly treated since Raphael (Fig. 1), the Ecstasy of Saint Cecilia is here approached through the prism of symbolism. With its monumental format, Fournier wanted to create a large-scale history painting, not seeking a realistic representation but aiming for a plastic effect with the nimbus and veil that radiate from the composition. The lower part of the painting, treated in a dark palette, contrasts with the light tones of the upper part. The anagogy is therefore not only spiritual but also pictorial. "Painting is an essentially religious and Christian art. If this character has been lost in our godless century, it must be recovered", Maurice Denis, Diary, 1886 Modern in its workmanship and traditional in its iconography, Fournier's painting, presented at the Salon des Artistes français in 1899, heralds the renovation of religious art initiated in 1919 by Maurice Denis through the foundation of the Ateliers d'Art Sacré. Both artists share the same faith, the same desire to find "in visible things the path to the invisible, and in the order of natural reality the guarantee of supernatural truths" (in Maurice Denis, Histoire de l'art religieux, 1939).