XVII - Master Paintings - Jean Luc Baroni and Marty de Cambiaire

of maturity. Subleyras, who had arrived quite late in
Rome, was by then in his thirties; his apprenticeship
was ending, he was no longer a beginner and already
proved to be very experienced. The tempered realism
of the work and its sketch, their refined luminosity and
subtle colouring indicate that he had easily absorbed
the lessons of Roman artists such as Marco Benefial and
Francesco Trevisani.
The painting was prepared in the traditional manner
with preparatory drawings and a sketch. There is a
lovely study, a sheet that is worked on both sides in
red chalk 1 , in a private collection (Figs. 2 and 3).
Despite slight variations at each stage of the creative
process, Subleyras was very faithful to his initial idea
in the final composition and retained almost identical
positions for his figures, an indication of the confidence
of his choices. Christ, his head bent downwards in the
drawing, turns his face towards the light in the sketch
and even more in the painting. The lower part of his
body is still positioned in the same way, the right leg on
the ground, the left resting on the edge of the column.
The background decoration has also been modified
slightly: the shape of the column on which Christ has
been attached evolves slightly, from convex to concave
and ultimately becomes a straight column. The sketch
was praised by P. Mantz for its silver grey shades and by
Pierre Rosenberg and Olivier Michel for the “brutality”
and “tension” and “the angularity” of his line, all
of which are many ways of doing what would later
become typical characteristics of the artist’s style but
which he has abandoned here in the final painting for
the creation of which, on the contrary, he has returned
to a more gentle manner under the influence of classical
Roman painting.
The composition chosen by Subleyras to treat this
very common subject is especially successful. The
gestures and poses of the figures complement each
other naturally and elegantly, perhaps even more in the
sketch than in the final version. The restraint that was
typical of the artist throughout his career is expressed
in the sobriety of the colours, the calm and precision of
the attitudes, the reserve, absence even, of expressions.
The torturers, for example, are shown from the back or
in shadows, and in both the sketch and final painting,
have no faces.
Like in the Martyrdom of Saint Hippolyte (Fontainebleau,
Musée du Château), another difficult subject painted
around the same time, Subleyras has refused to
emphasize the violence. In our sketch, like in the final
version, it is on the contrary Christ’s figure which has
been emphasized, luminous and offered for sacrifice.
This characteristic distancing does not take away any
power from the sketch, which appears almost drawn,
the touches visible forming small parallel hatching lines
like in his drawings. This reserve that appears in both
form and meaning, makes him an artist that has at times
been considered a precursor to Neoclassicism.
est attaché le Christ évolue légèrement, du convexe
au concave pour finir par devenir une colonne droite.
L’esquisse a été louée par Paul Mantz pour ses tons gris
argent et par Pierre Rosenberg et Olivier Michel pour
« la brutalité », « la nervosité » et « l’angularité » de son
trait, autant de façons de faire qui deviendront par la
suite tout à fait caractéristiques du style de l’artiste mais
qu’il abandonne ici dans le tableau final, pour revenir
à une manière adoucie sous l’influence de la peinture
classique romaine.
La composition trouvée par Subleyras pour traiter
ce sujet très courant est particulièrement réussie. Les
gestes et les postures des personnages se complètent
avec naturel, vraisemblance et élégance et ce peutêtre
plus encore dans l’esquisse que dans le tableau.
La retenue qui caractérisera l’artiste tout au long de sa
carrière s’exprime par la sobriété des coloris, le calme
et la précision des attitudes, la réserve – voire l’absence
– des expressions. Les bourreaux, par exemple, sont
représentés de dos ou dans l’ombre, et n’ont, dans
l’esquisse comme dans l’œuvre finale, pas de visage.
Comme dans Le Martyre de saint Hippolyte (Fontainebleau,
musée du château), autre sujet difficile peint approximativement
à la même époque, Subleyras se refuse
à mettre la violence en relief. Dans notre esquisse,
comme dans l’œuvre finale, c’est au contraire la figure
du Christ qui est mise en valeur, lumineuse et offerte
au sacrifice. Cette distanciation caractéristique ne retire
pas sa force à l’esquisse, dont la facture est presque dessinée,
les touches visibles formant de petites hachures
parallèles tout comme dans ses dessins. La réserve dont
il fait preuve, dans le fond comme dans la forme, fait de
lui un artiste que l’on a pu parfois considérer comme un
précurseur du néoclassicisme.
3. Pierre Subleyras, Flagellation of Christ, red
chalk, verso, Paris, Private Collection.
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