Adolphe LALIRE known as LA LYRE (1848-1933) Cleopatra... - Lot 128 - Les Andelys Enchères

Adolphe LALIRE known as LA LYRE (1848-1933) Cleopatra Comes to Dinner at Marc Antony's, 1922 Oil on canvas signed, dated and located CARTERET lower right 200 x 149 cm. On the back, bear the n° 834 in ink and the reference L 231 in blue chalk on the central rail of the frame Exhibition: Salon d'Hiver at the Grand Palais in Paris from January 27 to February 28, 1923, n° 461 (stamped on the back) A very small piece on the back Estimate :€ Expert : Expertises Tellier, Paris / Marc-Henri TELLIER Adolphe Lalire was born on October 1st 1848 in Rouvres-en-Woëvre, a small village in the Meuse. He was the eldest of a family of seven children. In 1866, his family moved to Nancy. During the war of 1870, Lalire was an officer in the Company of Marches of the 200th battalion. In 1875, he graduated first in his class at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was a student of Pils, Lehman (himself a student of Ingres), Jules Lefebvre (mythological or allegorical paintings), and Henner. The following year, he exhibited two drawings at the Salon des Champs-Elysées. Then he took courses in mathematics and drawing at the École supérieure des Arts Décoratifs where he received a gold medal. In 1880, he opened a studio on the Place des Vosges in the Henri IV pavilion and decided to change his name: Lalire became La Lyre. He was awarded a medal at the International Exhibition in Nice in 1885 and at the Universal Exhibition in Antwerp in 1885. In 1886, he married Marthe Lévesques, one of his students in the drawing class he taught. He was appointed Officer of Public Instruction in 1887. At the Universal Exhibition of 1889, he received a bronze medal. In 1897, he built a studio in Courbevoie located at 297 boulevard Saint-Denis. He was again awarded a bronze medal at the 1900 Universal Exhibition. That year, the construction of a large villa on the cape of Carteret (Manche) was completed. At the time, Carteret was a fishing village of about 500 souls and a modest seaside resort. The owner of this villa was none other than Adolphe Lalire, known as La Lyre, a 52 year old painter at the height of his fame. He first came to Carteret in 1872, when he was still a novice artist, and fell under the spell of this town. He returned, staying at the Hôtel de la Mer (opened in 1883), and bought a plot of land there in 1897. He drew up the plans for this "castle", with its crenellated tower, which has an unobstructed view of the Carteret cornice and the beach that stretches from Barneville-sur-Mer to Portbail. He named this house "the castle of the mermaids" and now divided his time between Paris and the Channel. Wishing to advise young artists, he published between 1902 and 1907 four large volumes devoted to the figure from life, each containing 450 drawings and sketches. He won a medal at the Franco-British Exhibition in London in 1908. In 1910, he published "Le Nu féminin à travers les âges chez tous les peuples" (The female nude through the ages among all peoples), a work illustrated with 74 sanguine drawings. In 1915, La Lyre exhibited at the Georges Petit gallery in Paris. Marked by the First World War, he produced during this period several paintings representing the dramatic consequences of this conflict. Our painting, of large format, painted in Carteret in 1922, is at the same time a historical, orientalist and symbolist work. Since the Renaissance and the rediscovery of Antiquity, many artists have represented the myth of Cleopatra. Among the works done at the end of the 19th century on this theme, we need only mention those of Gérôme, Alma-Tadema and Cabanel. Our painting, entitled Cleopatra Comes to Dinner at Mark Antony's as mentioned in the exhibition catalogue of the 1923 Winter Salon, depicts Cleopatra's landing on the banks of the Cydnus, in Tarsus (now Turkey), a city in Cilicia on the shore of Asia Minor where Mark Antony had established his capital after the battle of Philippi. Since the assassination of Caesar, a political alliance of the Roman Republic, known as the second triumvirate, was in place in which Mark Antony participated with Octavian and Lepidus. Mark Antony's mission is to organize the East and counter the threat of the Parthian Empire. Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, had allied herself with Cassius, Mark Antony's rival, who had committed suicide. Eager to save Egypt's independence, she arrived in 41 BC with the plan to seduce Mark Antony. This was the first meeting between the queen of Egypt and the triumvir. Shaken by internal crises, Egypt needs the protection of Rome which has an interest in its survival. The Lyre read to illustrate this