Workshop of Joseph-Benoit SUVÉE (Bruges 1743-1807 Rome) - Lot 170

Workshop of Joseph-Benoit SUVÉE (Bruges 1743-1807 Rome) L'Amiral de Coligny en impose à ses assassins Oil on paper (two leaves) mounted on canvas, on the back, handwritten annotations probably dating from the mid-19th century: "Coligny / episode of St Barthélémy / sketch by Joseph Benoit Suvée / from his painting in the Louvre n°568 / commissioned by Louis XVI / carved oak frame / (same period)". 57 x 47.5 cm Interesting and rare studio copy of one of the artist's masterpieces, commissioned in 1786 by the Count of Angiviller for the Bâtiments du roi, to complete the series of models for the History of France hanging produced by the Gobelins. The monumental canvas, paid for at 3,000 livres and presented at the Salon of 1787, now in Dijon (Musée des Beaux-Arts, inv.CA465), illustrates the attack to assassinate the Protestant warlord on the night before St. Bartholomew's Day. This choice of subject reflects the interest of contemporary patrons in modern historical subjects, such as Louis-Jacques Durameau's famous Continence de Bayard and Nicolas Guy Brenet's La Mort de du Guesclin, presented ten years earlier at the 1777 Salon. These two paintings were also part of the suite of ten selected for the Tenture de l'Histoire de France. The reign of Henri IV was given particular prominence in this iconography glorifying national history. We would like to express our gratitude to Mmes Join-Lambert and Leclair, authors of the artist's catalog raisonné, who, in a written communication dated September 12, 2024, and after examining photographs, confirmed: "This could be a studio copy by one of his pupils, either French or Flemish, dating from the first half of the 19th century". Suvée drew his inspiration directly from the verses of Canto II of Voltaire's La Henriade, a poem secretly published in Rouen in 1723: C'était à la faveur des ombres de la nuit [...] Coligny languished in the arms of rest (...] He got up, looked around and saw assassins Murderers running with hasty steps He saw torches and weapons shining everywhere (...] Already the numerous cohort of assassins Of the salon that encloses him were about to break down the door; He opens it himself, and shows himself to them [...] Companions, he tells them, finish your work, And with my icy blood stain these white hairs That the fate of battle respected for forty years; Strike, fear not: Coligny forgives you; My life is a small thing and I give it up to you... I would rather have lost it fighting for you...