Le Centenaire

Signed and dated 'ADRIEN_MOREAU. 1880.' bottom right; also with original preparer's stencil verso, oil on canvas

28 x 52 1/8 in. (96.5 x 132.4cm)

PROVENANCE:

McClees Galleries, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania (per label verso).

Private Estate, Illinois.

EXHIBITED:

"Salon," May 1880, Paris, France.

LITERATURE:

Le Contemporain: Revue Catholique, Société d'Économie Charitable, Paris, Troisième Série, Tome XX, 1880, p. 169.A.C., "La Champagne et la Brie au Salon de Paris en 1880," in Revue de Champagne et de Brie: Histoire, Biographie, Archéologie, Documents Inédits, Bibliographie, Beaux-Arts, Henri Menu, Paris, 1880-1881, Tome Neuvième, Cinquième Année, Premier Semestre, p. 90.

George Lafenestre, Le Livre d'Or du Salon de Peinture et de Sculpture, Librarie des Bibliophiles, Paris, 1880, p. X (10).

NOTE:

In his review of the Paris Salon of 1880, an anonymous art critic wrote: "Undoubtedly, there is a lot of talent in this canvas: the white and pink satins combine their shimmering reflections in a color of a charming freshness, very soft, although flickering. But the main point of interest in these conventional figures in fact lies in their adornment; stripped from their costume, no one would dare to look at them (...) What luxurious accoutrements! What seductive hairstyles! What provocative boots!" In a different review, another critic considered Le Centenaire a "worthy example of the artist's spiritual talent," and gauged it would win a gold medal.