GENERAL DESCRIPTION
In this scene from Sophocles’ play of the same name, the blind king Oedipus is nearing the end of his life and stops to rest in the city of Colonus. His son Polynices, along with his daughters Antigone and Ismene, beg the king to return to Thebes, the city he once ruled and where he had been exiled for killing his father and marrying his mother. Polynices pleads for help defeating his vengeful brother, who took control of Thebes after their father’s departure. With this painting, Jean Antoine Théodore Giroust earned admission into the French Royal Academy. It shows his mastery of the Neoclassical style, which is characterized by strong lines, vivid colors, and depictions of Greek and Roman mythological themes.
Excerpt from
Nicole Myers, DMA label copy, 2018.
NOTES
Created 1788
Checked Piction
Add 2012 DMA Guide text to object record.
Jean Antoine Théodore Giroust trained in the studio of Joseph-Marie Vien, alongside the young Jacques-Louis David, where he was exposed to the first stirrings of neoclassicism. By the end of the 1770s, Giroust had followed Vien and David to Rome. There he conceived the idea for Oedipus at Colonus, based on a tragic play by Sophocles, but did not complete the painting until some ten years later, when he submitted the important work as his reception piece to the Académie Royale. It was exhibited to acclaim at the Salon of 1789. Closely associated with the progressive Orleans branch of the royal family, Giroust retired to his country estate in 1793 in the face of the Revolution’s rising radicalism and virtually ceased to paint.
DMA Guide to the Collections, 2012, page 176
Add education label as text entry:
The scene here is a neo-classical set piece, in an attempt to imagine what the subject of Sophocles' last play might have looked like in antiquity. Giroust's version of the aged Oedipus cursing his ungrateful son Polynices takes places before the facade of a Greek temple. Oedipus, the central figure, is half naked. His powerfully modelled torso, which hardly looks like the body of an old man, indicates that Oedipus is still potent, despite his blindness and the doom the gods have set on him, as a man cursed to murder his father and marry his mother. Sophocles' view that Oedipus becomes a hero before his death at Colonus is reflected in the heroic nude image and in Oedipus' majestic pose.
Excerpt from
DMA thematic label copy (1992.22.FA), Ancient Mediterranean and European Art, nd, Education files.
DMA thematic label copy (1992.22.FA), Ancient Mediterranean and European Art, nd, Education files.
The scene here is a neo-classical set piece, in an attempt to imagine what the subject of Sophocles' last play might have looked like in antiquity. Giroust's version of the aged Oedipus cursing his ungrateful son Polynices takes places before the facade of a Greek temple. Oedipus, the central figure, is half naked. His powerfully modelled torso, which hardly looks like the body of an old man, indicates that Oedipus is still potent, despite his blindness and the doom the gods have set on him, as a man cursed to murder his father and marry his mother. Sophocles' view that Oedipus becomes a hero before his death at Colonus is reflected in the heroic nude image and in Oedipus' majestic pose.
Giroust trained in the studio of Joseph-Marie Vien, a pioneer of Neoclassicism. Among the other students was Jacques-Louis David, who would emerge as the leading artist of his generation. In 1775 Vien became director of the French academy in Rome, taking David with him. Giroust was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1778, and his sojourn at the French Academy once again brought him into contact with David.
"Oedipus at Colonus," the work with which Giroust earned entrance to the academy, embodies the formal, thematic, and ethical issues of neoclassicism. The painting depicts the climactic confrontation between the blind king Oedipus and his son Polynices, who had sent him into exile. Aware that the place of his father's demise will be blessed, Polynices, with his sisters Antigone and Ismene, entreats the aged Oedipus to return to Thebes. But Oedipus rejects his son and forsakes his last chance to return to the city he had once ruled.
Giroust's choice of a blind hero as the subject for his masterpiece was surely informed by David's famous depiction of the blind Blesarius, completed in 1780. Indeed, in style and content Giroust's Oedipus is a paradigm of Davidian Neoclassicism. Depicted with enormous clarity and concision, the drama unfolds on a shallow stagelike space parallel to the picture plane. The gestures and facial expressions of the characters - especially the outstretched arm of Oedipus at the center of the composition - are extremely eloquent. The architectural severity of the Doric temple at right as well as the stringent purity of the primary colors of the garments further enhance the intense drama.
No author entered in TMS, Dallas Museum of Art, Museum of Europe Label Text, August, 1993
Above is published in the 1997 guide, author Dorothy Kosinski
Giroust, who was five years younger than the great Neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David, trained with David in the studio of Joseph-Marie Vien in Paris (1770) and again in Rome (1778-80). Like many promising artists, he found few patrons after the French Revolution and eventually gave up painting. This painting is literally Giroust's "masterpiece"; he submitted it to the Royal Adcademy of Arts in Paris to support his candidacy as a master painter. Giroust chose as his theme a scene from Greek tragedy "Oedipus at Colonus" by Sophocles. The aged King Oedipus blinded and exiled from his home of Thebes, had wandered through the land as a beggar, accompanied only by his daughters, Antigone and Ismene. At last he came to rest in Colonus, the place where he would be allowed to die peacefully. In this scene, his son Polyneices has come to ask Oedipus's blessing for the war he wishes to wage against his brother, Eteocles, for the throne of Thebes. Instead, despite his daughters pleas, Oedipus curses Polynices' ambitions and predicts his two sons will kill one another in battle.
Dallas Museum of Art, Museum of Europe Label Text August, 1993
Giroust (1753-1817) began his studies of painting in the studio of Joseph Marie Vien in 1770 when he was seventeen. Vien was a pioneer in the creation of a style "a la grecque" and he became the founder of the style in painting that we call Neo-Classicism. Among his pupils were the leading artists of the next generation, including Jacques-Louis David, whom Giroust met in Vien's studio.
When Vien left Paris in 1775 to become director of the French Academy in Rome (taking David with him), Giroust moved to study with Nicolas-Bernard Lepicie. In 1778 Giroust won the Prix de Rome with a painting of "The Indignation of David", now in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and went to join Vien and David in Rome. Back in Paris after his Roman sojourn, Giroust submitted works to the Salon in 1787 and 1788. That year he presented "Oedipus at Colonus" as his masterpiece, winnning membership at the Academy himself. Although that painting was enthusiastically received at the Salon of 1789, Giroust's career, like that of so many of his contemporaries, was disrupted and finally brought to an end by the French Revolution and its aftermath. Unlike his friend David, Giroust did not leap to support the new regime. Without patronage, he submitted works to the Salons of 1791 and 1793, but then retired to the countryside and abandoned painting. The subject of "Oedipus at Colonus" is taken from the play of that name by Sophocles. It represents the dramatic confrontation between the blind Oedipus and his son Polyneikes, who had sent him into exile from Thebes. Notwithstanding the pleas of his daughters Antigone and Iomene (?), Oedipus, seated before the Temple of the Eumenides in Colonus, curses his son for having engaged in war against his own brother Eteocles. "Oedipus at Colonus" is a rare find on the art market today, a handsome, full-scale, vintage work of Davidian Neo-Classicism. In fact there is no painting of such pure Neo-Classisim anywhere in the Southwest: the Kimbell's David is late, dating from the period of his exile in Brussels a full thirty years after "Oedipus at Colonus". Giroust was with David in Rome while David was preparing his painting "Belisarious," with which he returned triumphantly to Paris from Rome in 1780, winning full membership in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 1781.
TMS, curatorial remarks, no author or date. MUST BE ACQUISITION JUSTIFICATION
Justification shown in TMS:
Giroust (1753-1817) began his studies of painting in the studio of Joseph Marie Vien in 1770 when he was seventeen. Vien was a pioneer in the creation of a style "a la grecque" and he became the founder of the style in painting that we call Neo-Classicism. Among his pupils were the leading artists of the next generation, including Jacques-Louis David, whom Giroust met in Vien's studio. When Vien left Paris in 1775 to become director of the Frence Academy in Rome (taking David with him), Giroust moved to study with Nicolas-Bernard Lepicie. In 1778 Giroust won the Prix de Rome with a painting of "The Indignation of David", now in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and went to join Vien and David in Rome. Back in Paris after his Roman sojourn, Giroust submitted works to the Salon in 1787 and 1788. That year he presented "Oedipus at Colonus" as his masterpiece, winning membership at the Academy. Although that painting was enthusiastically received at the Salon of 1789, Giroust's career, like that of so many of his contemporaries, was disrupted and finally brought to an end by the French Revolution and its aftermath. Unlike his friend David, Giroust did not leap to support the new regime. Without patronage, he submitted works to the Salons of 1791 and 1793, but then retired to the countryside and abandoned painting. The subject of "Oedipus at Colonus" is taken from the play of that name by Sophocles. It represents the dramatic confrontation between the blind Oedipus and his son Polyneikes, who had sent him into exile from Thebes. Notwithstanding the pleas of his daughters Antigone and Isomene, Oedipus, seated before the Temple of the Eumenides in Colonus, curses his son for having engaged in war against his own brother Eteocles. "Oedipus at Colonus" is a rare find on the art market today, a handsome, full-scale, vintage work of Davidian Neo-Classicism. In fact there is no painting of such pure Neo-Classisim anywhere in the Southwest: the Kimbell's David is late, dating from the period of his exile in Brussels a full thirty years after "Oedipus at Colonus". Giroust was with David in Rome while David was preparing his painting of the blind "Belisarius," with which he won full membership in the Academy in 1780. Giroust's choice of another blind hero for the subject of his masterpiece cannot be accidental. In all respects, "Oedipus at Colonus" represents Neo-Classicism at his highest level: in its clear, geometric structure, its beautiful classical setting, its handsomely articulated figures and the strong moral content of the painting conveyed through their gestures and poses. "Oedipus at Colonus" is a particularly welcome addition to the Museum's collections. A masterpiece in the style that marks the end of the Ancient Regime and the beginning of the Republic, it crowns the campaign to build a representative group of eighteenth century French history paintings at the DMA. Giroust's painting was included in the Salon of 1789, on the eve of the Revolution. When taken with Legrand's poignant picture reenacting a dramatic episode from the Reign of Terror, it enables us to demonstrate powerfully the upheavals both in history and the history of art of that dramatic time. Furthermore, with the gift of Wedgewood from two large collections, "Oedipus at Colonus" takes its place at the center of an important assembly of Neo-Classical fine and decorative arts at the DMA. Susan Barnes Senior Curator of Western Art
Giroust trained in the studio of Joseph-Marie Vien, a pioneer of Neoclassicism. Among the other students was Jacques-Louis David, who would emerge as the leading artist of his generation. In 1775 Vien became director of the French academy in Rome, taking David with him. Giroust was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1778, and his sojourn at the French Academy once again brought him into contact with David.
"Oedipus at Colonus," the work with which Giroust earned entrance to the academy, embodies the formal, thematic, and ethical issues of neoclassicism. The painting depicts the climactic confrontation between the blind king Oedipus and his son Polynices, who had sent him into exile. Aware that the place of his father's demise will be blessed, Polynices, with his sisters Antigone and Ismene, entreats the aged Oedipus to return to Thebes. But Oedipus rejects his son and forsakes his last chance to return to the city he had once ruled.
Giroust's choice of a blind hero as the subject for his masterpiece was surely informed by David's famous depiction of the blind Blesarius, completed in 1780. Indeed, in style and content Giroust's Oedipus is a paradigm of Davidian Neoclassicism. Depicted with enormous clarity and concision, the drama unfolds on a shallow stagelike space parallel to the picture plane. The gestures and facial expressions of the characters - especially the outstretched arm of Oedipus at the center of the composition - are extremely eloquent. The architectural severity of the Doric temple at right as well as the stringent purity of the primary colors of the garments further enhance the intense drama.
"Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection," page 94
Jean Antoine Théodore Giroust trained in the studio of Joseph-Marie Vien, alongside the young Jacques-Louis David, where he was exposed to the first stirrings of neoclassicism. By the end of the 1770s, Giroust had followed Vien and David to Rome. There he conceived the idea for Oedipus at Colonus, based on a tragic play by Sophocles, but did not complete the painting until some ten years later, when he submitted the important work as his reception piece to the Académie Royale. It was exhibited to acclaim at the Salon of 1789. Closely associated with the progressive Orleans branch of the royal family, Giroust retired to his country estate in 1793 in the face of the Revolution’s rising radicalism and virtually ceased to paint.
DMA Guide to the Collections, 2012, page 176
Acquisition proposal copied from TMS:
Giroust (1753-1817) began his studies of painting in the studio of Joseph Marie Vien in 1770 when he was seventeen. Vien was a pioneer in the creation of a style "a la grecque" and he became the founder of the style in painting that we call Neo-Classicism. Among his pupils were the leading artists of the next generation, including Jacques-Louis David, whom Giroust met in Vien's studio. When Vien left Paris in 1775 to become director of the Frence Academy in Rome (taking David with him), Giroust moved to study with Nicolas-Bernard Lepicie. In 1778 Giroust won the Prix de Rome with a painting of "The Indignation of David", now in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and went to join Vien and David in Rome. Back in Paris after his Roman sojourn, Giroust submitted works to the Salon in 1787 and 1788. That year he presented "Oedipus at Colonus" as his masterpiece, winning membership at the Academy. Although that painting was enthusiastically received at the Salon of 1789, Giroust's career, like that of so many of his contemporaries, was disrupted and finally brought to an end by the French Revolution and its aftermath. Unlike his friend David, Giroust did not leap to support the new regime. Without patronage, he submitted works to the Salons of 1791 and 1793, but then retired to the countryside and abandoned painting.
The subject of "Oedipus at Colonus" is taken from the play of that name by Sophocles. It represents the dramatic confrontation between the blind Oedipus and his son Polyneikes, who had sent him into exile from Thebes. Notwithstanding the pleas of his daughters Antigone and Isomene, Oedipus, seated before the Temple of the Eumenides in Colonus, curses his son for having engaged in war against his own brother Eteocles.
Giroust was with David in Rome while David was preparing his painting of the blind "Belisarius," with which he won full membership in the Academy in 1780. Giroust's choice of another blind hero for the subject of his masterpiece cannot be accidental. In all respects, "Oedipus at Colonus" represents Neo-Classicism at his highest level: in its clear, geometric structure, its beautiful classical setting, its handsomely articulated figures and the strong moral content of the painting conveyed through their gestures and poses.
Giroust's painting was included in the Salon of 1789, on the eve of the Revolution. When taken with Legrand's poignant picture reenacting a dramatic episode from the Reign of Terror, it enables us to demonstrate powerfully the upheavals both in history and the history of art of that dramatic time.
Susan Barnes, DMA Acquisition proposal (1992.22.FA), 1992.
Like the Greek playwright Sophocles, the French painter Giroust dramatizes the confrontation between the blind king Oedipus and his son Polynices, who had sent him into exile. The drama of Polynices and his two sisters pleading with their father to return to Thebes unfolds on a stagelike space. The gestures—especially the outstretched arm of Oedipus at the center of the composition—are dramatically powerful and eloquent.
The artist Jean-Antoine-Théodore Giroust trained in the studio of Joseph-Marie Vien, a pioneer of neoclassicism. Among the other students was Jacques-Louis David, who would emerge as the leading artist of his generation. In 1775 Vien became director of the French Academy in Rome, taking David with him. Giroust was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1778, and his sojourn at the French Academy once again brought him in contact with David.
Oedipus at Colonus, the work with which Giroust earned entrance to the academy, embodies the formal, thematic, and ethical issues of neoclassicism. The painting depicts the climactic confrontation between the blind king Oedipus and his son Polynices, who had sent him into exile. Aware that the place of his father’s demise will be blessed, Polynices, with his sisters Antigone and Ismene, entreats the aged Oedipus to return to Thebes. But Oedipus rejects his son and forsakes his last chance to return to the city he had once ruled.
Giroust’s choice of a blind hero as the subject for his masterpiece was surely informed by David’s famous depiction of the blind Belisarius, completed in 1780. Indeed, in style and content Giroust’s Oedipus is a paradigm of Davidian neoclassicism. Depicted with enormous clarity and concision, the drama unfolds on a shallow stagelike space parallel to the picture plane. The gestures and facial expressions of the characters—especially the outstretched arm of Oedipus at the center of the composition—are extremely eloquent. The architectural severity of the Doric temple at right as well as the stringent purity of the primary colors of the garments further enhance the intense drama.
Dr. Dorothy Kosinski, European Masterworks teaching packet
From Dropbox Europe (Bembo) labels--TAZ:
This work depicts the climactic confrontation of Sophocles' drama, where the blind king Oedipus and his son Polyneikes meet at the end of Oedipus's life, after his many years in lonely exile from Thebes, always haunted by his fateful unintended act of incest. Aware that the place of Oedipus's demise will be blessed, Polyneikes entreats his father to return to Thebes. Yet despite the pleas of his daughters, Antigone and Isomene, Oedipus rejects his son and curses him for plotting war against his brother, Eteocles. Oedipus forsakes this last chance to return to the city where he had once ruled. This is a paradigm of neoclassicism, embodying the formal, thematic, and ethical issues that dominated the arts on the eve of the French Revolution.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location: Greece_Ancient: TGN: 7594735
Place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038
Historical periods
Individuals
Sophocles
Jacques Louis David
Oedipus
Subject terms
Salon
Academic
Neoclassicism
father
son
blind
columns
Doric
sky
clouds
exile
sisters
figures
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PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Ancient History Encyclopedia~Learn more about Oedipus at Colonus from the Ancient History Encyclopedia online.
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FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1992.22.FA
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General Description
In this scene from Sophocles’ play of the same name, the blind king Oedipus is nearing the end of his life and stops to rest in the city of Colonus. His son Polynices, along with his daughters Antigone and Ismene, beg the king to return to Thebes, the city he once ruled and where he had been exiled for killing his father and marrying his mother. Polynices pleads for help defeating his vengeful brother, who took control of Thebes after their father’s departure. With this painting, Jean Antoine Théodore Giroust earned admission into the French Royal Academy. It shows his mastery of the Neoclassical style, which is characterized by strong lines, vivid colors, and depictions of Greek and Roman mythological themes.
Excerpt from
Nicole Myers, DMA label copy, 2018.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Ancient History Encyclopedia~Learn more about Oedipus at Colonus from the Ancient History Encyclopedia online.
Notes
Created 1788
Checked Piction
Add 2012 DMA Guide text to object record.
Jean Antoine Théodore Giroust trained in the studio of Joseph-Marie Vien, alongside the young Jacques-Louis David, where he was exposed to the first stirrings of neoclassicism. By the end of the 1770s, Giroust had followed Vien and David to Rome. There he conceived the idea for Oedipus at Colonus, based on a tragic play by Sophocles, but did not complete the painting until some ten years later, when he submitted the important work as his reception piece to the Académie Royale. It was exhibited to acclaim at the Salon of 1789. Closely associated with the progressive Orleans branch of the royal family, Giroust retired to his country estate in 1793 in the face of the Revolution’s rising radicalism and virtually ceased to paint.
DMA Guide to the Collections, 2012, page 176
Add education label as text entry:
The scene here is a neo-classical set piece, in an attempt to imagine what the subject of Sophocles' last play might have looked like in antiquity. Giroust's version of the aged Oedipus cursing his ungrateful son Polynices takes places before the facade of a Greek temple. Oedipus, the central figure, is half naked. His powerfully modelled torso, which hardly looks like the body of an old man, indicates that Oedipus is still potent, despite his blindness and the doom the gods have set on him, as a man cursed to murder his father and marry his mother. Sophocles' view that Oedipus becomes a hero before his death at Colonus is reflected in the heroic nude image and in Oedipus' majestic pose.
Excerpt from
DMA thematic label copy (1992.22.FA), Ancient Mediterranean and European Art, nd, Education files.
DMA thematic label copy (1992.22.FA), Ancient Mediterranean and European Art, nd, Education files.
The scene here is a neo-classical set piece, in an attempt to imagine what the subject of Sophocles' last play might have looked like in antiquity. Giroust's version of the aged Oedipus cursing his ungrateful son Polynices takes places before the facade of a Greek temple. Oedipus, the central figure, is half naked. His powerfully modelled torso, which hardly looks like the body of an old man, indicates that Oedipus is still potent, despite his blindness and the doom the gods have set on him, as a man cursed to murder his father and marry his mother. Sophocles' view that Oedipus becomes a hero before his death at Colonus is reflected in the heroic nude image and in Oedipus' majestic pose.
Giroust trained in the studio of Joseph-Marie Vien, a pioneer of Neoclassicism. Among the other students was Jacques-Louis David, who would emerge as the leading artist of his generation. In 1775 Vien became director of the French academy in Rome, taking David with him. Giroust was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1778, and his sojourn at the French Academy once again brought him into contact with David.
"Oedipus at Colonus," the work with which Giroust earned entrance to the academy, embodies the formal, thematic, and ethical issues of neoclassicism. The painting depicts the climactic confrontation between the blind king Oedipus and his son Polynices, who had sent him into exile. Aware that the place of his father's demise will be blessed, Polynices, with his sisters Antigone and Ismene, entreats the aged Oedipus to return to Thebes. But Oedipus rejects his son and forsakes his last chance to return to the city he had once ruled.
Giroust's choice of a blind hero as the subject for his masterpiece was surely informed by David's famous depiction of the blind Blesarius, completed in 1780. Indeed, in style and content Giroust's Oedipus is a paradigm of Davidian Neoclassicism. Depicted with enormous clarity and concision, the drama unfolds on a shallow stagelike space parallel to the picture plane. The gestures and facial expressions of the characters - especially the outstretched arm of Oedipus at the center of the composition - are extremely eloquent. The architectural severity of the Doric temple at right as well as the stringent purity of the primary colors of the garments further enhance the intense drama.
No author entered in TMS, Dallas Museum of Art, Museum of Europe Label Text, August, 1993
Above is published in the 1997 guide, author Dorothy Kosinski
Giroust, who was five years younger than the great Neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David, trained with David in the studio of Joseph-Marie Vien in Paris (1770) and again in Rome (1778-80). Like many promising artists, he found few patrons after the French Revolution and eventually gave up painting. This painting is literally Giroust's "masterpiece"; he submitted it to the Royal Adcademy of Arts in Paris to support his candidacy as a master painter. Giroust chose as his theme a scene from Greek tragedy "Oedipus at Colonus" by Sophocles. The aged King Oedipus blinded and exiled from his home of Thebes, had wandered through the land as a beggar, accompanied only by his daughters, Antigone and Ismene. At last he came to rest in Colonus, the place where he would be allowed to die peacefully. In this scene, his son Polyneices has come to ask Oedipus's blessing for the war he wishes to wage against his brother, Eteocles, for the throne of Thebes. Instead, despite his daughters pleas, Oedipus curses Polynices' ambitions and predicts his two sons will kill one another in battle.
Dallas Museum of Art, Museum of Europe Label Text August, 1993
Giroust (1753-1817) began his studies of painting in the studio of Joseph Marie Vien in 1770 when he was seventeen. Vien was a pioneer in the creation of a style "a la grecque" and he became the founder of the style in painting that we call Neo-Classicism. Among his pupils were the leading artists of the next generation, including Jacques-Louis David, whom Giroust met in Vien's studio.
When Vien left Paris in 1775 to become director of the French Academy in Rome (taking David with him), Giroust moved to study with Nicolas-Bernard Lepicie. In 1778 Giroust won the Prix de Rome with a painting of "The Indignation of David", now in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and went to join Vien and David in Rome. Back in Paris after his Roman sojourn, Giroust submitted works to the Salon in 1787 and 1788. That year he presented "Oedipus at Colonus" as his masterpiece, winnning membership at the Academy himself. Although that painting was enthusiastically received at the Salon of 1789, Giroust's career, like that of so many of his contemporaries, was disrupted and finally brought to an end by the French Revolution and its aftermath. Unlike his friend David, Giroust did not leap to support the new regime. Without patronage, he submitted works to the Salons of 1791 and 1793, but then retired to the countryside and abandoned painting. The subject of "Oedipus at Colonus" is taken from the play of that name by Sophocles. It represents the dramatic confrontation between the blind Oedipus and his son Polyneikes, who had sent him into exile from Thebes. Notwithstanding the pleas of his daughters Antigone and Iomene (?), Oedipus, seated before the Temple of the Eumenides in Colonus, curses his son for having engaged in war against his own brother Eteocles. "Oedipus at Colonus" is a rare find on the art market today, a handsome, full-scale, vintage work of Davidian Neo-Classicism. In fact there is no painting of such pure Neo-Classisim anywhere in the Southwest: the Kimbell's David is late, dating from the period of his exile in Brussels a full thirty years after "Oedipus at Colonus". Giroust was with David in Rome while David was preparing his painting "Belisarious," with which he returned triumphantly to Paris from Rome in 1780, winning full membership in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 1781.
TMS, curatorial remarks, no author or date. MUST BE ACQUISITION JUSTIFICATION
Justification shown in TMS:
Giroust (1753-1817) began his studies of painting in the studio of Joseph Marie Vien in 1770 when he was seventeen. Vien was a pioneer in the creation of a style "a la grecque" and he became the founder of the style in painting that we call Neo-Classicism. Among his pupils were the leading artists of the next generation, including Jacques-Louis David, whom Giroust met in Vien's studio. When Vien left Paris in 1775 to become director of the Frence Academy in Rome (taking David with him), Giroust moved to study with Nicolas-Bernard Lepicie. In 1778 Giroust won the Prix de Rome with a painting of "The Indignation of David", now in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and went to join Vien and David in Rome. Back in Paris after his Roman sojourn, Giroust submitted works to the Salon in 1787 and 1788. That year he presented "Oedipus at Colonus" as his masterpiece, winning membership at the Academy. Although that painting was enthusiastically received at the Salon of 1789, Giroust's career, like that of so many of his contemporaries, was disrupted and finally brought to an end by the French Revolution and its aftermath. Unlike his friend David, Giroust did not leap to support the new regime. Without patronage, he submitted works to the Salons of 1791 and 1793, but then retired to the countryside and abandoned painting. The subject of "Oedipus at Colonus" is taken from the play of that name by Sophocles. It represents the dramatic confrontation between the blind Oedipus and his son Polyneikes, who had sent him into exile from Thebes. Notwithstanding the pleas of his daughters Antigone and Isomene, Oedipus, seated before the Temple of the Eumenides in Colonus, curses his son for having engaged in war against his own brother Eteocles. "Oedipus at Colonus" is a rare find on the art market today, a handsome, full-scale, vintage work of Davidian Neo-Classicism. In fact there is no painting of such pure Neo-Classisim anywhere in the Southwest: the Kimbell's David is late, dating from the period of his exile in Brussels a full thirty years after "Oedipus at Colonus". Giroust was with David in Rome while David was preparing his painting of the blind "Belisarius," with which he won full membership in the Academy in 1780. Giroust's choice of another blind hero for the subject of his masterpiece cannot be accidental. In all respects, "Oedipus at Colonus" represents Neo-Classicism at his highest level: in its clear, geometric structure, its beautiful classical setting, its handsomely articulated figures and the strong moral content of the painting conveyed through their gestures and poses. "Oedipus at Colonus" is a particularly welcome addition to the Museum's collections. A masterpiece in the style that marks the end of the Ancient Regime and the beginning of the Republic, it crowns the campaign to build a representative group of eighteenth century French history paintings at the DMA. Giroust's painting was included in the Salon of 1789, on the eve of the Revolution. When taken with Legrand's poignant picture reenacting a dramatic episode from the Reign of Terror, it enables us to demonstrate powerfully the upheavals both in history and the history of art of that dramatic time. Furthermore, with the gift of Wedgewood from two large collections, "Oedipus at Colonus" takes its place at the center of an important assembly of Neo-Classical fine and decorative arts at the DMA. Susan Barnes Senior Curator of Western Art
Giroust trained in the studio of Joseph-Marie Vien, a pioneer of Neoclassicism. Among the other students was Jacques-Louis David, who would emerge as the leading artist of his generation. In 1775 Vien became director of the French academy in Rome, taking David with him. Giroust was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1778, and his sojourn at the French Academy once again brought him into contact with David.
"Oedipus at Colonus," the work with which Giroust earned entrance to the academy, embodies the formal, thematic, and ethical issues of neoclassicism. The painting depicts the climactic confrontation between the blind king Oedipus and his son Polynices, who had sent him into exile. Aware that the place of his father's demise will be blessed, Polynices, with his sisters Antigone and Ismene, entreats the aged Oedipus to return to Thebes. But Oedipus rejects his son and forsakes his last chance to return to the city he had once ruled.
Giroust's choice of a blind hero as the subject for his masterpiece was surely informed by David's famous depiction of the blind Blesarius, completed in 1780. Indeed, in style and content Giroust's Oedipus is a paradigm of Davidian Neoclassicism. Depicted with enormous clarity and concision, the drama unfolds on a shallow stagelike space parallel to the picture plane. The gestures and facial expressions of the characters - especially the outstretched arm of Oedipus at the center of the composition - are extremely eloquent. The architectural severity of the Doric temple at right as well as the stringent purity of the primary colors of the garments further enhance the intense drama.
"Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection," page 94
Jean Antoine Théodore Giroust trained in the studio of Joseph-Marie Vien, alongside the young Jacques-Louis David, where he was exposed to the first stirrings of neoclassicism. By the end of the 1770s, Giroust had followed Vien and David to Rome. There he conceived the idea for Oedipus at Colonus, based on a tragic play by Sophocles, but did not complete the painting until some ten years later, when he submitted the important work as his reception piece to the Académie Royale. It was exhibited to acclaim at the Salon of 1789. Closely associated with the progressive Orleans branch of the royal family, Giroust retired to his country estate in 1793 in the face of the Revolution’s rising radicalism and virtually ceased to paint.
DMA Guide to the Collections, 2012, page 176
Acquisition proposal copied from TMS:
Giroust (1753-1817) began his studies of painting in the studio of Joseph Marie Vien in 1770 when he was seventeen. Vien was a pioneer in the creation of a style "a la grecque" and he became the founder of the style in painting that we call Neo-Classicism. Among his pupils were the leading artists of the next generation, including Jacques-Louis David, whom Giroust met in Vien's studio. When Vien left Paris in 1775 to become director of the Frence Academy in Rome (taking David with him), Giroust moved to study with Nicolas-Bernard Lepicie. In 1778 Giroust won the Prix de Rome with a painting of "The Indignation of David", now in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and went to join Vien and David in Rome. Back in Paris after his Roman sojourn, Giroust submitted works to the Salon in 1787 and 1788. That year he presented "Oedipus at Colonus" as his masterpiece, winning membership at the Academy. Although that painting was enthusiastically received at the Salon of 1789, Giroust's career, like that of so many of his contemporaries, was disrupted and finally brought to an end by the French Revolution and its aftermath. Unlike his friend David, Giroust did not leap to support the new regime. Without patronage, he submitted works to the Salons of 1791 and 1793, but then retired to the countryside and abandoned painting.
The subject of "Oedipus at Colonus" is taken from the play of that name by Sophocles. It represents the dramatic confrontation between the blind Oedipus and his son Polyneikes, who had sent him into exile from Thebes. Notwithstanding the pleas of his daughters Antigone and Isomene, Oedipus, seated before the Temple of the Eumenides in Colonus, curses his son for having engaged in war against his own brother Eteocles.
Giroust was with David in Rome while David was preparing his painting of the blind "Belisarius," with which he won full membership in the Academy in 1780. Giroust's choice of another blind hero for the subject of his masterpiece cannot be accidental. In all respects, "Oedipus at Colonus" represents Neo-Classicism at his highest level: in its clear, geometric structure, its beautiful classical setting, its handsomely articulated figures and the strong moral content of the painting conveyed through their gestures and poses.
Giroust's painting was included in the Salon of 1789, on the eve of the Revolution. When taken with Legrand's poignant picture reenacting a dramatic episode from the Reign of Terror, it enables us to demonstrate powerfully the upheavals both in history and the history of art of that dramatic time.
Susan Barnes, DMA Acquisition proposal (1992.22.FA), 1992.
Like the Greek playwright Sophocles, the French painter Giroust dramatizes the confrontation between the blind king Oedipus and his son Polynices, who had sent him into exile. The drama of Polynices and his two sisters pleading with their father to return to Thebes unfolds on a stagelike space. The gestures—especially the outstretched arm of Oedipus at the center of the composition—are dramatically powerful and eloquent.
The artist Jean-Antoine-Théodore Giroust trained in the studio of Joseph-Marie Vien, a pioneer of neoclassicism. Among the other students was Jacques-Louis David, who would emerge as the leading artist of his generation. In 1775 Vien became director of the French Academy in Rome, taking David with him. Giroust was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1778, and his sojourn at the French Academy once again brought him in contact with David.
Oedipus at Colonus, the work with which Giroust earned entrance to the academy, embodies the formal, thematic, and ethical issues of neoclassicism. The painting depicts the climactic confrontation between the blind king Oedipus and his son Polynices, who had sent him into exile. Aware that the place of his father’s demise will be blessed, Polynices, with his sisters Antigone and Ismene, entreats the aged Oedipus to return to Thebes. But Oedipus rejects his son and forsakes his last chance to return to the city he had once ruled.
Giroust’s choice of a blind hero as the subject for his masterpiece was surely informed by David’s famous depiction of the blind Belisarius, completed in 1780. Indeed, in style and content Giroust’s Oedipus is a paradigm of Davidian neoclassicism. Depicted with enormous clarity and concision, the drama unfolds on a shallow stagelike space parallel to the picture plane. The gestures and facial expressions of the characters—especially the outstretched arm of Oedipus at the center of the composition—are extremely eloquent. The architectural severity of the Doric temple at right as well as the stringent purity of the primary colors of the garments further enhance the intense drama.
Dr. Dorothy Kosinski, European Masterworks teaching packet
From Dropbox Europe (Bembo) labels--TAZ:
This work depicts the climactic confrontation of Sophocles' drama, where the blind king Oedipus and his son Polyneikes meet at the end of Oedipus's life, after his many years in lonely exile from Thebes, always haunted by his fateful unintended act of incest. Aware that the place of Oedipus's demise will be blessed, Polyneikes entreats his father to return to Thebes. Yet despite the pleas of his daughters, Antigone and Isomene, Oedipus rejects his son and curses him for plotting war against his brother, Eteocles. Oedipus forsakes this last chance to return to the city where he had once ruled. This is a paradigm of neoclassicism, embodying the formal, thematic, and ethical issues that dominated the arts on the eve of the French Revolution.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location: Greece_Ancient: TGN: 7594735
Place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038
Historical periods
Individuals
Sophocles
Jacques Louis David
Oedipus
Subject terms
Salon
Academic
Neoclassicism
father
son
blind
columns
Doric
sky
clouds
exile
sisters
figures
RELATED OBJECTS
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AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1992.22.FA
source file
object_notes_2_d-0141.xml.nores