2007 Catalogue - Colnaghi

Provenance: Cardinal Joseph Fesch, by whom
acquired from the artist in 1802, for 6000 francs (see
J.B. Vanel, ‘Deux livres de comptes du cardinal Fesch’,
Bulletin historique du diocèse de Lyon, January 1929,
p. 76, no. 1); (†) sale, Rome, 26 March 1844 ff., lot
820; Private collection, Portugal.
Exhibited: Paris, Salon, 1799, no. 280 (‘Un tableau
représentant la Tarentelle, danse napolitaine. Larg.
2m., haut. 1m 30 c.’).
Literature: Salon, ‘Arlequin au Muséum ou les
Tableaux en vaudeville’, Coll. Deloynes, 1799, XXI, pp.
109-110, no. 561; ‘La Revue du Muséum’, Coll.
Deloynes, 1799, XXI, p. 159, no. 562; ‘Exposition de
tableaux au Salon du Louvre. Journal d'indications’,
Coll. Deloynes, 1799, XXI, pp. 361-362, no. 579;
‘Exposition des ouvrages de peinture...insérée dans le
Journal de la Décade par le C.Chaussard’, Coll.
Deloynes, 1799, XXI, pp. 455-456, no. 580; 25
fructidor/11 septembre, 1799, Journal des Arts, de
littérature et de commerce, p. 2, no. 11; J.B. Vanel,
‘Deux livres de comptes du cardinal Fesch, archevêque
de Lyon’, Bulletin historique du diocèse de Lyon, 1802,
January 1923, p. 76, no. 1 ('la Tarentelle de Sablet
6.000 fr.'); 7 vendémiaire/30 septembre, 1803, Arch.
nat., Minutier central, Etude LXIX, 870, Inventaire J.
Sablet, 23 fructidor an XI/10 September, folio 19
(tableau appartenant à Lucien Bonaparte, ‘La
Tarentaine’); Fiorillo, Geschichte der Künste..., 1805, II,
p. 520; (George), Catalogue des tableaux composant la
Galerie de feu son éminence le cardinal Fesch, 1841,
Rome, no. 1751 ('Une fête de matelots'); 26 mars ff,
Rome, vente du cardinal Fesch, 1844, no. 820 ('Une
fête napolitaine'); A. van de Sandt, Jacques Sablet
(1749-1803). Biographie et catalogue raisonné,
Université de Paris IV - Sorbonne, 1983, no. X. 29, as
‘localisation inconnue’.
23
Jacques Sablet
(Morges 1749 – 1803 Paris)
La Tarantelle: An evening coastal Landscape
with Neapolitan Peasants dancing the Tarantella
With indistinct traces of a signature centre left: SABL
and an inventory number ‘No 665.d.C.’ (painted in black on the reverse)
Oil on canvas
61 x 83 1 /2 in. (154.9 x 212.1 cm.)
70
The whereabouts of this magnificent picture was
unknown for over 150 years until its recent rediscovery
in a private collection in Portugal. Exhibited to much
acclaim in the 1799 Paris Salon, the work was last seen
in the collection of Cardinal Joseph Fesch whence it
was sold in 1844. Anne van de Sandt, who, in her
1983 catalogue raisonné, describes the painting as
“certainement l’un des chefs-d'oeuvre de Jacques
Sablet”, 1 has confirmed the attribution on the basis of
colour transparencies and has kindly provided
information for the following catalogue note. 2
This monumental work depicts an idyllic scene of
Neapolitan peasants dancing the Tarantella before a
harbour with a castle reminiscent of the Castel Nuovo,
Naples, to the left and the fortress of Gaeta beyond. 3
The Tarantella was a lively dance, performed to the
accompaniment of tambourines, a guitar, or
sometimes, as here, a lute. It is commonly believed to
be named after the tarantula spider which was
(incorrectly) thought to cause tarantism, a form of
hysteria that was at one time endemic to the southern
Italian town of Taranto, and the cure for which was
thought to involve wild dancing. The same dance is
surely being performed in Sablet's Danse Napolitaine,
(99 x 137 cm.), commissioned by Gustav III of
Sweden in 1784 (now in Drottningholm Castle,
Sweden). From this composition the three main groups
of musicians to the right the dancing couple in the
centre, and the drinking couple to the left, have clearly
evolved and can be found in the present work.