Olds Drawings

The Emperor Maurice dethroned by the usurper Phocas is put to death by the lictors after witnessing the murder of his five sons

Étienne-Barthélemy GARNIER (1759-1849)

circa 1790

Enlarge picture jpg 271Ko (See the caption hereafter) (modal window)
Étienne-Barthélemy Garnier,L’Empereur Maurice détrôné par l’usurpateur Phocas est mis à mort par les licteurs après avoir été témoin du meurtre de ses cinq fils, dessin à la plume et encre brune, lavis brun et rehauts de gouache blanche sur trait de crayon, papier bleu , 50.3 x L. 64.5 cm

Pen and brown ink, brown wash with highlights of white gouache over traces of pencil on blue paper

87-3-2-94

Bequeathed by Jean Marie de Silguy in 1864

H. 50.3 – L. 64.5 cm

This drawing is a study for an oil sketch completed by Garnier at the end of his first year at the Académie de France in Rome in 1790 (acquired by Louis XVI).  Maurice, who had just witnessed the murder of his five sons, repels the nurse of the sixth child who offers to exchange her own son, and designates his last child himself. The staging is very theatrical and characteristic of Garnier’s neo-classical style.   

Olds Drawings

The Emperor Maurice dethroned by the usurper Phocas is put to death by the lictors after witnessing the murder of his five sons

Étienne-Barthélemy GARNIER (1759-1849)

circa 1790

Enlarge picture jpg 271Ko (See the caption hereafter) (modal window)
Étienne-Barthélemy Garnier,L’Empereur Maurice détrôné par l’usurpateur Phocas est mis à mort par les licteurs après avoir été témoin du meurtre de ses cinq fils, dessin à la plume et encre brune, lavis brun et rehauts de gouache blanche sur trait de crayon, papier bleu , 50.3 x L. 64.5 cm

Pen and brown ink, brown wash with highlights of white gouache over traces of pencil on blue paper

87-3-2-94

Bequeathed by Jean Marie de Silguy in 1864

H. 50.3 – L. 64.5 cm

This drawing is a study for an oil sketch completed by Garnier at the end of his first year at the Académie de France in Rome in 1790 (acquired by Louis XVI).  Maurice, who had just witnessed the murder of his five sons, repels the nurse of the sixth child who offers to exchange her own son, and designates his last child himself. The staging is very theatrical and characteristic of Garnier’s neo-classical style.   

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