127 - Homer Walking Through the Countryside, c. 1888–1889

Homer Walking Through the Countryside, c. 1888–1889 Oil on canvas 43.8 x 24.8 cm Unsigned, undated Bears on the back, on the crossbar of the stretcher, the round monogram of the MAUD studio as well as the handwritten inscription in pencil: “1st painted sketch, Académies Julian, 1889” Bears on the reverse the original shipping and exhibition labels: Chenue packer, LP Art Exhibition Maurice Denis Homer Wandering Through the Countryside No. 3; Yamato Fine Art Exhibition Maurice Denis Catalog No. 5; LP Art Nice; LP Art Toulouse Verso l’Arte Moderna; Provenance: Maurice Denis Collection François Denis Collection Private collection Exhibitions: Maurice Denis Exhibition, Pavillon de Marsan, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1924, no. 1 (“Homer Traveling Through the Countryside (1889)”) “Eugène Carrière and Symbolism” Exhibition, 1949–1950, Paris, Musée National de l’Orangerie, no. 265 “Maurice Denis, 1870–1943” Exhibition; Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts—Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum—Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery—Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum; 1994–1995; no. 3, reproduced in color Maurice Denis 2006–07 Musée d’Orsay, Paris—Montreal Museum of Fine Arts—Rovereto Museum of Modern Art, no. 1, reproduced on p. 114 (Exhibited in Paris, Montreal, Rovereto) Bibliography: Louis Gillet; “On the Maurice Denis Exhibition,” in *La Gazette des Beaux-Arts*, 1924, p. 200 (under the title “Homer Among the Shepherds”) Suzanne Barazzetti, *Maurice Denis*, 1945, pp. 42, 141, 27 (sometimes titled “Orpheus Wandering Through the Countryside”) Paul Jamot, *Maurice Denis*, Paris, 1945, p. 5, reproduced in black and white on page 6 Jean Paul Bouillon, *Maurice Denis*, 1993; Skira, p. 13 A certificate confirming inclusion in the catalog raisonné of Maurice Denis’s work may be issued to the purchaser upon request to the Maurice Denis Committee. “Few of Denis’s early works have been identified to date. According to S. Barazzetti, the painter’s first biographer, and based on a handwritten inscription on the reverse of the painting—which is not in the artist’s own hand— *Homer Wandering Through the Countryside* was painted for a competition at the Académie Julian, where Maurice Denis was studying alongside the future Nabis. A charcoal drawing on laid paper, dated August 1888, precisely outlines the composition (glued sketches, private collection). The curriculum at the Académie Julian, like that of the École des Beaux-Arts—which Denis also attended between late 1887 and 1890—was based on competition and prizes. The iconography of Homer is characteristic of competition subjects (Homer singing among the shepherds provided the subject for the 1864 Prix de Rome in painting and the 1884 Prix de Rome in composition). Since the late 17th century, the theme of the blind Homer wandering among shepherds has been a common motif in literature and history painting. Denis offers an interpretation that defies established conventions, beginning with the format—narrow and vertical—which is unusual for a subject belonging to the grand genre. No props are present to date the scene. The landscape evokes the hills of Saint-Germain rather than ancient Greece. Homer’s tunic, breaking with the conventions of classical drapery, and the poet’s gesture—deprived of his traditional lyre and accentuated by the oversized hand (as in *Mystère catholique*)—assimilate the poet to the figures of Christ the Evangelizer that appear repeatedly in Denis’s work. This rejection of archaeological realism echoes the example set by Puvis de Chavannes. The layering of planes culminating in a narrow strip of sky, the abrupt shifts in scale, and the sketchy, synthetic rendering of the faces also make this painting the earliest manifestation of the master’s influence on the young painter. In 1887, Denis discovered Puvis and deemed “the decorative, calm, and simple aspect of these paintings very beautiful: admirable mural color; there are marvelous harmonies of pale tones,” which can be found in *Homer* (Journal, vol. 1, p. 67). Blending the hero with scenes of everyday life, Denis portrays this “familiar and rustic” art (Journal, vol. III, p. 69), epitomized by *The Childhood of Saint Geneviève* at the Pantheon, which serves here as a model for the composition. *Homer* was the first issue of the major retrospective dedicated to Denis in 1924, a way for him to acknowledge what he owed to a painter who had by then been forgotten. That same year—the year of the Lyon-born master’s quietly observed centennial—he reaffirmed his debt to Puvis in an article on the artist’s decisive contribution.” Sylvie Patry in Jean-Paul Bouillon (ed.), Maurice Denis: [Musée d’Orsay exhibition, October 31, 2006 – January 21, 2007], Paris, Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 2006, p. 114.