Pierre-Amédée MARCEL-BERONNEAU (Bordeaux, 1869 - La Seyne-sur-Mer, 1937) The woman with snakes Oil on canvas Signed 'P. Marcel-Beronneau' lower right Countersigned 'P. Marcel-Beronneau' on the stretcher on the reverse Annotated and titled 'N°2 / La femme aux serpents' on canvas verso Canvas from the house of Paul Foinet The woman with snakes, oil on canvas, signed, by P.-E. Marcel-Beronneau 31.89 x 39.37 in. 81.0 x 100.0 cm Provenance: Anonymous sale; Paris, Drouot Montaigne, Me Tajan, 1 July 1966, no. 25 ; Collection of Galerie Alain Blondel, Paris; Acquired from the latter in June 1981 by Gérard Lévy; Collection Gérard Lévy ; Then by descent Exhibitions: Salon des Artistes français, Paris, Grand palais des Champs-Élysées, May 1911, cat. no. 1256: "La femme aux serpents" ("Woman with snakes") Fifty-Second Liverpool Autumn Exhibition 1924, Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, 1924, cat. no. 26 [label on reverse]. Marcel-Beronneau /1869-1937 / Symbolist Painter, Paris, Galerie Alain Blondel, June 1981, reproduced : "La Femme aux Serpents Bibliography: Alexandre, Arsène, "Les Salons de 1911", Le Figaro, 29 April 1911, p. 4. Cottaz, Maurice, "Les héroïnes des Marcel-Beronneau, la révélation d'un symboliste, peintre des séductrices", Valeurs actuelles, 10/16, VIII, 10 August 1981, p. 33. "There is no doubt that Marcel Béronneau is one of the most refined and scrupulous artists of his time<a href="#_ftn1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><i>[1]</i></strong></a>." This eulogy by the critic Arsène Alexandre in early 1911 illustrates the extent of the reputation acquired by the painter Pierre-Amédée Marcel-Béronneau at the beginning of the last century. After a short apprenticeship at the École Municipale des Beaux-arts in his native Bordeaux, in 1890 he joined the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, where he studied with Eugène Thirion. In November 1892, he joined Gustave Moreau's highly regarded studio, where he became friends with Rouault, sharing his studio on Boulevard du Montparnasse. Considered by Moreau to be one of his best pupils, he won the first Grand Prix des Arts Décoratifs in 1893 and the Prix Paul Chenavard in 1894. In 1895, he took part in the Salon des Artistes français for the first time, exhibiting his Muse, a work marked by strong symbolist mysticism, before taking part in Joséphin Péladan's Salon de la Rose-Croix in 1897. Marcel-Béronneau won a medal at the 1900 Universal Exhibition, and by the turn of the century he was enjoying increasing success both in France and abroad. In addition to Stuttgart and Elsener in 1901, the artist took part in international exhibitions in London and Saint-Louis in 1904, Montreal in 1909, Ghent in 1913, San Francisco in 1915, and Barcelona and Buenos Aires in 1917. His appointment as Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1914 followed several state purchases in 1910 and 1911, as well as a major commission, only completed in 1923, for a large tapestry depicting Salomé, intended to be woven by and for the Manufacture nationale des Gobelins. The painting we are presenting belongs to this period of maturity and triumph for Marcel-Béronneau. Against a backdrop of a masonry landscape of mauve rocks, in the glowing atmosphere of an orange sunset that bathes the sky in blood-red, rises the disturbing bust of a Gorgon with smooth, pearly flesh, her head and body covered with a multitude of snakes with the mineral appearance of precious stones. When it was exhibited at the Alain Blondel gallery in 1981, our masterly work was accompanied by a short poem by the artist: "O capricious woman enclosed in evil! Only the serpent should approach your mouth, And secret confidant of thy fierce desire Lull your sad heart and your infernal dream<a href="#_ftn2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><i>[2]</i></strong></a> " Despite the eloquence of his verses, the painter maintained a certain mystery around this singular iconography, fusing ancient Cleopatra with a certain Baudelairean seduction. Above all, he feverishly pursued this image of the femme fatale with its multiple symbols, sometimes metamorphosing her into an enigmatic sphinx, a courtesan or a goddess with a more or less hermaphroditic body, inspired in this sense by the eroticism of the painter Frantz von Stuck. When it was exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1911, our striking painting drew praise from Arsène Alexandre for both its subject and its plastic treatment: "In M. Marcel Béronneau's 'Femme aux serpents', there is an acute imagination and a research into jewellery painting that have their price. This artist would make admirable enamels and ceramics<a href="#_ftn3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><i>[3]</i></strong></a>." <a href="#_ftnref1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Alexandre, Arsène, "Le Salon d'hiver et l'école française", Le Figaro, 24 January 1911, p. 3. <a href="#_ftnref2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[2]</a> Marcel-Beronneau, in Marcel-Beronneau /1869-1937 / Peintre Symboliste, Paris, Galerie Alain Blondel, June 1981. <a href="#_ftnref3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[3]</a> Alexandre, Arsène, "Les Salons de 1911", Le Figaro, 29 April 1911, p. 4. Pierre-Amédée MARCEL-BERONNEAU (Bordeaux, 1869 - La Seyne-sur-Mer, 1937) 81.0 x 100.0 cm "There is no doubt that Marcel Béronneau is one of the most refined and scrupulous artists of his time<a href="#_ftn1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><em>[1]</em></strong></a>." This eulogy by the critic Arsène Alexandre in early 1911 illustrates the extent of the fame acquired by the painter Pierre-Amédée Marcel-Béronneau at the beginning of the last century. After a short apprenticeship at the École Municipale des Beaux-arts in his native Bordeaux, in 1890 he joined the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, where he studied with Eugène Thirion. In November 1892, he joined Gustave Moreau's highly regarded studio, where he became friends with Rouault, sharing his studio on Boulevard du Montparnasse. Considered by Moreau to be one of his best pupils, he won the first Grand Prix des Arts Décoratifs in 1893 and the Prix Paul Chenavard in 1894. In 1895, he took part in the Salon des Artistes français for the first time, exhibiting his Muse, a work marked by strong symbolist mysticism, before taking part in Joséphin Péladan's Salon de la Rose-Croix in 1897. Marcel-Béronneau won a medal at the 1900 Universal Exhibition, and by the turn of the century he was enjoying increasing success both in France and abroad. In addition to Stuttgart and Elsener in 1901, the artist took part in international exhibitions in London and Saint-Louis in 1904, Montreal in 1909, Ghent in 1913, San Francisco in 1915, and Barcelona and Buenos Aires in 1917. His appointment as Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1914 followed several state purchases in 1910 and 1911, as well as a major commission, only completed in 1923, for a large tapestry depicting Salomé, intended to be woven by and for the Manufacture nationale des Gobelins. The painting we are presenting belongs to this period of maturity and triumph for Marcel-Béronneau. Against a backdrop of a masonry landscape of mauve rocks, in the glowing atmosphere of an orange sunset that bathes the sky in blood-red, rises the disturbing bust of a Gorgon with smooth, pearly flesh, her head and body covered with a multitude of snakes with the mineral appearance of precious stones. When it was exhibited at the Alain Blondel gallery in 1981, our masterly work was accompanied by a short poem by the artist: "O capricious woman enclosed in evil! Only the serpent should come near your mouth, and secret confidant of your fierce desire Lulling your sad heart and your infernal dream<a href="#_ftn2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><em>[2]</em></strong></a> " Despite the eloquence of his verses, the painter maintained a certain mystery around this singular iconography, fusing ancient Cleopatra with a certain Baudelairean seduction. Above all, he feverishly pursued this image of the femme fatale with its multiple symbols, sometimes metamorphosing her into an enigmatic sphinx, a courtesan or a goddess with a more or less hermaphroditic body, inspired in this sense by the eroticism of the painter Frantz von Stuck. When it was exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1911, our striking painting drew praise from Arsène Alexandre for both its subject and its plastic treatment: "In M. Marcel Béronneau's 'Femme aux serpents', there is an acute imagination and a research into jewellery painting that have their price. This artist would make admirable enamels and ceramics<a href="#_ftn3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><em>[3]</em></strong></a>." <a href="#_ftnref1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Alexandre, Arsène, "Le Salon d'hiver et l'école française", Le Figaro, 24 January 1911, p. 3. <a href="#_ftnref2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[2]</a> Marcel-Beronneau, in Marcel-Beronneau /1869-1937 / Peintre Symboliste, Paris, Galerie Alain Blondel, June 1981. <a href="#_ftnref3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[3]</a> Alexandre, Arsène, "Les Salons de 1911", Le Figaro, 29 April 1911, p. 4.