La Cigale
by Jules-Joseph Lefebvre (French, 1836-1911)
1872, oil on canvas, 186.7 x 123.8 cm [8]
The title is taken Jean De La Fontaine's adaptation of Aesop's fable "The Grasshopper and the Ant"
(or "The Cicada and the Ant", which is "La Cigale et la fourmi" in French [1]).
The Grasshopper, who dances and sings all summer long, is critical of the Ant
for spending its time labouring to put away supplies for winter.
The Grasshopper's folly is exposed when the weather turns, leaving it cold, hungry and
unprepared.
Lefebvre's female nude seemingly represents the Grasshopper at the onset of autumn,
realising the consequences of her careless frivolity. The painting was accompanied at its 1872 Salon debut with a quotation from La Fontaine’s adaptation, "Quand la bise fut venue" (When the cold north wind blows)[13].
Painted just after the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian war, this allegory of foolish unpreparedness was seen as a critique of Napoleon III, who's poor leadership lead to economic collapse and the Paris Commune uprising of 1871 [7].
"La Cigale" was first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1872 [2].
In 1893 it was exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago [3]
(being owned in America at that time [4]). It remained for some time in the collection of Daniel Catlin, of St. Louis, Missouri [5]. In the early 1980s the painting found a new home in Australia, when purchased by a private collector in Melbourne, Victoria [7].
In 1995 it was one of two privately owned Lefebvre nudes featured in the exhibition
"Narratives, nudes and landscapes" at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) [2]. The other was the famous work "Chloe" (see Chloe's page at Young and Jackson's Hotel). The NGV acquired "La Cigale" from the estate of the Melbourne owner in May 2005 [6], and it is now on public display at the NGV International in Melbourne (Victoria, Australia).
Lefebvre created more than one version of this work, a variation [12] (oil on board, 26.8 x 14.0 cm - a probable study for the major work), and a miniature [5] (oil on board, 41.9 x 20.6 cm). The miniature was sold by Sotheby's (NY) from the estate of Walter P. Chrysler Jnr in 1989.
The images to the left are scanned from an antique fine art gravure (print), from the author's collection [9].
The first image shows the 1872 publishing details of the print. The second is the full print and the
third is a detail of the face.
Click here to see a comparison of both versions of the painting, together with this and another vintage print.
Aesop's fable was a theme used by other artists of the time. One recurring portrayal was that
of a forlorn girl with a mandolin (symbolic of the "singing" Cicada). The same model
from "La Cigale" can be seen in other Lefebvre works such as "Mignon" [10]
(pictured left) and "Autumn" [11] (pictured right), which are variations on the same theme.
Note: To view an image full size, click on the thumbnail and it will display in a new window.
Just close the new window when you have finished viewing the picture. You are welcome to copy and use any of these images, so long as you credit this site (theARTwerx) as the source (except for "Autumn"[11]). Feel free to link to these pages, but please don't link directly to the images themselves, as this 'steals' my limited bandwidth.
[Return to Lefebvre gallery]
References and Credits:
[1] In the late 1600's, the french poet Jean De La Fontaine adapted and published some of Aesop's fables, including "La Cigale et la fourmi".
[2] Thanks to Philip Jago of the National Gallery of Victoria, for kindly providing this information.
[3] The Book of the Fair and Art & Architecture: Vol 1 (1893 Columbian Exposition).
[4] Art at the Columbian Exposition, By Ernest Knaufft.
[5] Thanks to Charla Provencio (USA) for kindly providing information from the 1989 NY Sothebys Art Auction Catalogue.
[6] Thanks to Norman Sterling (Australia) for kindly providing information about the sale of his father's painting to the NGV, and Jennie Maloney of the National Gallery of Victoria for confirming the date of acquisition.
[7] From online articles by The Age, Herald Sun and Australian newspapers, on the official launch at the NGV in November 2005.
[8] Colour image of La Cigale sourced from the online article
SEPTEMBER08 - Exposing the Naked and the Nude
appearing in TROUBLE magazine. (October 2008)
[9] A modern re-print of this antique gravure can be purchased from Mybayart's online store on eBay (listed as 'Nude maiden Cigale').
[10] Image of Mignon from a 1902 bookplate (author's personal collection).
[11] The image of Autumn was sourced from the Lefebvre section at the Art Renewal Center.
[12] The image Variation of La Cigale was sourced from the Roger King Gallery of Fine Art (October 2005).
[13] From an ANZ Trustee News article on the Felton Bequest (September 2006)
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Copyright © 2003-2009 paule24@hotmail.com, All Rights Reserved. (This page last updated July 27, 2009)
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