Henri Fantin-Latour (French, 1836-1904), La Nuit, signed 'Fantin' (lower right), pastel on canvas, 84 x 66cm (33 1/16 x 26in). Estimate £80,000-120,000 (€100,000 - 150,000). Photo: Bonhams.

LONDON.- La Nuit, which will be offered in Bonhams’ 2nd March 19th Century European, Victorian and British Impressionist Art sale with an estimate of £80,000-120,000, is one of the finest examples of Henri Fantin-Latour’s dramatic break away from the conservative style that dominated most of his life’s work. 

Towards the end of his career, when he had gained enough recognition to be freed from the necessity of painting for commission, the acclaimed French painter’s work moved into the expressive, poetic realms of the imagination. 

Famed primarily for his beautifully realistic portraits and still-lifes – A Basket of Roses (1890) was used as the cover of New Order’s 1983 album, Power, Corruption & Lies, because designer Peter Saville considered the work to be so powerfully seductive – Fantin-Latour’s true artistic passion lay in the dreamlike qualities of his later works. The spontaneous execution and delicate colour harmonies in La Nuit depict a mythological sensuality and a deeply romantic inspiration that mark what can almost be described as a revolution in the French master’s oeuvre. 

“It is incredibly rare to see a pastel by Fantin-Latour of this scale and quality, and it is particularly exciting to be offering such a beautiful picture which has not been on the open market for nearly sixty years”, said Charles O’Brien, Bonhams Director of 19th Century Paintings. “But more than anything, there is something wondrous about seeing a drawing so closely tied to the artist’s personality, his interests in music and literature, and his creative genius.” 

The present lot is the original pastel version of a smaller oil painting of the same image in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Bought in 1958 for £480, La Nuit has been in a private collection for more than half a century. 

The 2nd March sale will take place at Bonhams New Bond Street.

Provenance: with Gustave Tempelaere, Paris
with Hector Brame, Paris
Monsieur Fanien (almost certainly Achille Fanien), by 1911
Michel Pelletier
with F. & J. Tempelaere, Paris
J. van Herwijnen, The Hague, by 1932
J. de Jong
Hendrikus Egbertus ten Cate, Almelo, Holland
Impressionist and Modern Drawings, Paintings and Sculpture, the property of the late H. E. ten Cate of Almelo, Holland, sold by order of the trustees, Sotheby's London, 3rd December 1958, lot 49
E. J. Van Wisselingh & Co., Amsterdam, stock no.7990, purchased from the above sale for £480
Thence by descent

Exhibited: Paris, Salon, Société des Artistes Français, Exposition Annuelle des Beaux-Arts, 1895, cat. no.2272
New York, Museum of French Art, French Institute in the United States, Fantin-Latour, Loan Exhibition, January-February 1932, cat. no.20, noted as lent by Mr. J. van Herwynen [sic], The Hague
Gouda, Museum Gouda, Henri Fantin-Latour, Dromen op doek (Dreams on canvas), 26th October 2013 – 30th March 2014, cat. no.53

Literature: Roger Marx, La Peinture et la sculpture aux Salons de 1895, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1895, p.455, describing the present work as, "A moon ray gently brushes the supple body of Night which drifts, lethargic and drowsy on the fleeing cloud"
Mme. Fantin-Latour, Catalogue de l'oeuvre complet de Fantin-Latour, 1849-1904, Paris, 1911, p.166, no.1571, noted as being owned by Monsieur Fanien and having been exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1895
Dr. D. Hannema, Catalogue of the H. E. ten Cate Collection, Rotterdam, 1955, vol.I, p.52, no.68, described as Reverie, "A naked female figure resting on clouds. Her left hand lightly brushes her brow. The blue of the sky appears amid the drifting clouds through which the moon peeps out."
Gibson, The Art of Henri Fantin-Latour: His Life and Works, Drane's Ltd., London, 1924, p.66

Henri Fantin-Latour (French, 1836-1904), La Nuit, 1897. Oil on canvas. H. 61; W. 75 cm © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

Notes: Toward the end of his distinguished career, when freed from the necessity of painting portraits or still-lifes, Henri Fantin-Latour executed a glittering array of pastels, drawings, oils and lithographs that drew inspiration purely from his imagination. Of those dream-like images, his series symbolising personifications of La Nuit (Night) as well as Aurore (Dawn) and Le Jour (Day) are among his finest, placing him alongside other Symbolist painters such as Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon and Puvis de Chavannes. Like many Symbolist works this outstanding pastel speaks of poetry, sensuality and concepts rather than actuality, evoking the essence of night in the form of a beautiful female nude nestled within a bed of clouds. As noted in the Catalogue de l'Oeuvre de Henri Fantin-Latour compiled by the artist's widow (in which she erroneously reverses the dimensions), the present work was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1895 together with two of his oils titled Baigneuses and Vision. In his review of the Salon exhibition, the art critic Roger Marx praised Fantin-Latour for his diversity and summed up the present scene as "le rayon lunaire effleure le corps souple de la Nuit qui vogue, lasse, ensommeillée sur le nuage qui fuit", (a moon ray gently brushes the supple body of Nuit which drifts, lethargic and drowsy on the fleeing cloud). 

As was Fantin-Latour's common practise he later transcribed the subject into an oil painting, resulting in a slightly smaller rendition of La Nuit (61 x 75 cm; Musée d'Orsay, Paris) which was shown at the Paris Salon in 1897. The latter, depicting an almost mirror image of the same model with additional putti, was promptly acquired by the French State and as Gustave Geffroy, art critic for Le Journal (9th April 1897) noted "no woman ever lay more softly, in a painted heaven, enveloped in waves of soft clouds." The same can said of the present canvas which can also be applauded for its loose, spontaneous execution and delicate colour harmonies. Other of Fantin-Latour's visionary depictions of La Nuit include two drawings in the Musée de Grenoble as well as an oil painted in 1899 of similar size to the present work, which was dedicated to the dealer Ferdinand Tempelaere, who with his brother Julien also once owned the present pastel. At times the artist included figures of Dawn and Night within a single image, as in an oil of 1894 titled L'Aurore et La Nuit (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham).

While portraiture and naturalistic still-life paintings of flowers and fruit were essential to the artist's livelihood, by the early 1860s he was already creating imaginative mythological scenes often featuring female beauties and continued to do with increasing interest as his career proceeded. Many were inspired by literature as well as his great love of music including the work of Berlioz, Schumann and especially Wagner, so much admired by the Symbolists. From the early to mid 1880s came other allegorical works that, like this pastel, drew purely on Fantin-Latour's own imagination and like other Symbolist imagery broke away from traditional iconography. In this respect it is more akin to the mystical literary works by the Pre-Raphaelites or the work of the Victorian classical painter George Frederic Watts whose richly coloured allegorical compositions Fantin-Latour came to know during his time in England. It was Fantin-Latour's great friend Whistler who initiated the first of his three visits there in 1859. British society adored his work and he in turn came to know and admire its art and artists. While La Nuit reflects certain English stylistic traits it also embraces techniques used by the artist's Impressionist friends to describe the transitory effects of light and colour.

La Nuit is not only a work that speaks of light and colour as well as the beauty of the human form but also of dreams, poetry and the imagination. Fantin-Latour's work rarely comes onto the open market, particularly one of this calibre. As such it is little surprise that La Nuit boasts an impressive provenance to include many of the artist's principal collectors. Firstly there was Ferdinand and Julien Tempelaere, who like their father Gustave Tempelaere specialised in selling works by Fantin-Latour counting among them mythological pieces such as Immortalité (1889; National Museum of Wales, Cardiff) as well as one of the artist's self portraits (1860, Tate, London). After meeting Fantin-Latour in December 1887, Gustave became the artist's exclusive dealer and especially delighted in works, such as this, that drew from his imagination. Their close friendship continued until their respective deaths, a few months apart in 1904. Thereafter Ferdinand and Julien continued their father's business at rue Laffitte before transferring it in 1925 to 70 Bld. Malesherbes, where it remained until 1939. 

According to Mme Fantin-Latour, by 1911 this exceptional pastel was in the possession of Monsieur Fanien. He was almost certainly Achille Fanien (1827-1915), whose wealth accrued from his family's shoe manufacturing business at Lillers, Pas-de-Calais enabled him to acquire works by Millet, Delacroix, Corot and other great French 19th century masters. La Nuit was subsequently acquired by J. van Herwijnen of The Hague, who in 1932 lent it to the Fantin-Latour loan exhibition at the Museum of French Art, New York. There it hung between two equally fine works; both were oils, one being a portrait of the artist's niece Sonia (1890, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.) while the other was Le Palais de l'Aurore (1902, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). Van Herwijnen was almost certainly the landscape and still-life painter Jan van Herwijnen (1889-1965) who owned works by George Henrik Breitner and other fellow artists. La Nuit was then acquired by Hendrikus Egbertus ten Cate (1868-1955), a wealthy textile manufacturer and one of the most important Dutch art connoisseurs of the 20th century. His distinguished collection comprising 311 paintings, watercolours and drawings, predominantly acquired 1920-40, included a number of works by the 17th century Dutch masters though the majority were by the 19th and early 20th century Continental school – from Courbet, Millet and Anton Mauve to Boudin and Fantin-Latour, whom he especially favoured. Unfortunately H. E. ten Cate died shortly before the publication in late 1955 of a two volume catalogue of his collection compiled by Dr. D. Hannema, former director of Museum Boymans in Rotterdam. Three years later H. E. ten Cate's collection was offered for sale at Sotheby, London. Included were twelve works by Fantin-Latour, counting among them several of his still-lifes as well as a self-portrait of 1865 and another of his future wife, the artist Victorine Dubourg, painted in 1876 just before their marriage. La Nuit was purchased at ten Cate's sale for £480 by E. J. van Wisselingh & Co of Amsterdam, run by Jan de Jong who, like the gallery's founder Elbert Jan van Wisselingh (1848-1912), handled many of the artist's finest works. Among them were a number of allegorical studies, Portrait of a Woman (1885, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) as well as still-lifes including Asters in a Vase (1875, Saint Louis Art Museum) which interestingly was acquired from J. van Herwijnen, who also owned the present pastel. 

A master of his medium, Fantin-Latour was equally adept when working with pastels as with oils or lithography, placing no hierarchy of one above the other and often exhibiting pastels at the Paris Salon. In fact his fluid painterly technique and subtle use of colouring was at times better suited to pastel as demonstrated by the present canvas. Of exceptional quality and a tour de force it stands as testament to Fantin-Latour's creative genius in which he, like Puvis, Moreau and other Symbolists, introduces a new kind of art, poetic in inspiration that speaks to the heart, mind and eye.

We are grateful to Alice Munro-Faure for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.

We are grateful also to Galerie Brame & Lorenceau for confirming the authenticity of the present lot, which will be included in the Catalogue raisonné des peintures et pastels de Fantin-Latour, currently in preparation.

Henri Fantin-Latour (French, 1836-1904), Self-Portrait, 1860, oil on canvas, 31.4 x 25.4 cm. Tate, London.