231 - Évariste Vital Luminais,

Évariste Vital Luminais, French 1821/22-1896- Romans and Gauls by a river in a wooded landscape; oil on panel, 32.3 x 40.6 cm. Provenance: Anon. sale, Thierry de Maigret, Paris, 11 June 2004, lot 84 (€2,100 hammer). with Priory Fine Art, Nottinghamshire. Private Collection, UK. Note: Although Luminais was born into a family of politicians, he showed artistic aptitude from an early age. His talent earned him the privilege of being sent, at 18, from his native Nantes to Paris, where he would study painting with Auguste Debay (1804-1865) and history and portrait painter Léon Cogniet (1794-1880). He exhibited at the Salon for the first time in 1843, when he was only 21 years old. He would continue exhibiting at the Salon and elsewhere throughout his life, being awarded multiple medals and prizes, such as the Légion d'honneur in 1869 and the gold at the 1889 Exposition. Luminais is best known for his contribution to the monumental 1,400 square meter fresco that decorates the dome of the Bourse de Commerce in Paris, which hosts nowadays part of the Pinault Collection and its temporary exhibitions. Painted in collaboration with four other artists, it depicts an allegory of commercial exchange among all five continents, of which Luminais painted America. The painter is also known for his academic history paintings representing Gauls, in vogue during the years following the Franco-Prussian War. These historical—almost mythological—images served as useful patriotic propaganda to build morale and nationalism after the conflict, lost by France. The present lot is a prime example of this body of work: a Gaul on the right, wearing a characteristic brass helmet, red cape, and shield, raises a hand victoriously. On the left of the composition, three Gallo-Roman woman and a Gaul soldier, dressed similarly to the other male figure, rest and converse among the trees. Luminais contributed to the standardisation of this Gaul iconography: long hair, beard, brass helmet, red cape, a shield, and a sword, earning him the nickname of "painter of the Gauls". A strong illustration of this and a compelling comparison with the present work is A Gaul Returning from the Hunt, painted in 1906 and acquired in the same year by the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, where it is still held nowadays [inv. 06.27.20].