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Lot 246: COMTE ROBERT DE MONTESQUIOU, FRENCH 1855-1921

Est: £2,000 GBP - £3,000 GBP
Sotheby'sLondon, United KingdomJuly 14, 2004

Item Overview

Description

signed with initials

gouache

Quantity: 5

Dimensions

10x8cm.; 4x3 1/4 in.

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Exposition Robert de Montesquiou, February 1923

Notes

Together with a portrait of Madame Gauthereau, an illustration of the Queen of Sheba from Flaubert's La Tentation, a study of trees against a blue sky and another tree study; one wash and pencil, three gouache, all signed with initials.

Robert de Montesquiou was the archetypal figure of the fin-de-siecle: poet, wit, bon-viveur and conoisseur. He was the model for Huysman's Duc Jean Floressas des Esseintes in A Rebours and Proust's Baron de Charlus in A la Recherche du Temps Perdu. These works, in a Symbolist syle, were mentioned, along with others, in Montesquiou's memoirs. "...environ deux cents dessins, entrepris par moi, du temps que le desir de donner une forme a mes idees et mes sentimets hesitait entre les contours et les caracteres". Whistler's celebrated portrait of Montesquiou is now in the Frick Collection.

Auction Details

British & Continental Pictures

by
Sotheby's
July 14, 2004, 12:00 AM EST

Hammersmith Road, London, LDN, W14 8UX, UK