Homage to Voltaire
"Homage to Voltaire" is an oil on canvas painting attributed to the Flemish artist Ferdinand Marohn (1839 - 1865). Though unsigned by the artist, the genre piece contains many of the artist's signature motifs, from the lush landscaping to the ubiquitous dog in the foreground. In "Homage to Voltaire" the artist depicts a group of French citizenry spanning the generations, all paying tribute to Voltaire by dedicating a marble bust displaying the widely popular genius with his often-enigmatic smile. The painting is significant in that a brief life prevented Marohn from becoming a prolific or renowned artist, yet its high artistic quality and iconic subject matter found it worthy of a marvelous frame. The work looks and feels romantic at a time when realism held sway with the Salon. Invoking this tribute to Voltaire may have been the artist's way of honoring the past.
Ferdinand Marohn was born in Flanders and moved to Paris at an early age to study at the L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts. His works were regularly shown at the Salon until 1859, when Romanticism began to fall out of favor; conservative jurists required more space for the Realists, and even the most promising of the Impressionists found their works rejected. In addition to oil, Marohn worked in a variety of media, including charcoal, pastel, and watercolor. An example of his work can be found at the Reims Museum, and he is listed in the index of artists represented in the British Museum with two drawings.
The piece measures approximately 13" by 16.75" unframed (23.25" x 26.5" with frame). Surface crazing typical of the period is present, yet there has been no loss, and the painting is in good condition. There have been some minor losses to the frame's details. We have priced the object higher than previous oil on canvas sales of the artist due to the unique subject matter and wonderful frame. A major auction house has viewed this painting, and their attribution and informal assessment of the piece is consistent with ours. The piece was in a private collection until it was purchased at auction by us.
Francois-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist and philosopher; he was highly admired for his sharp wit, and became widely popular for his defense of civil liberties. Arouet was one of several Enlightenment figures (along with Montesquieu, John Locke, Thomas Hobbs and Jean-Jacques Rousseau) whose works and ideas influenced important thinkers of both the American and French Revolutions. In 1717, his sharp wit got him in trouble with the authorities. He was imprisoned at the Bastille for eleven months for writing a scathing satire of the French government. During his time in prison Francois-Marie wrote "Oedipe," which would become his first theatrical success, as well as the first of his works to adopt his nom de plume, "Voltaire."
After more than one imprisonment and several self-imposed exiles, all the while authoring thousands of works in almost every literary form, Voltaire returned to a hero's welcome in Paris at age 83, where he died shortly thereafter. Because of his frequent criticisms of Catholic Church doctrine, Arouet was officially denied burial on church grounds. Nevertheless, sympathetic clerics and friends arranged to have him interred at an abbey in Champagne. Later declared a forerunner of the French Revolution, the National Assembly honored Voltaire by declaring him a national hero and returning his remains to Paris to be for enshrined in the Pantheon in July 1791. It is said that a million people attended the procession, which stretched for miles throughout Paris.
The painting evokes feelings which must have been present at that final interment. An anonymous bust of the man who had spent his entire life espousing freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and who wrote of the right to assemble, smiles down upon those gathered to pay homage to him, a man with many names. Those assembled pay tribute not to a nameless bust, but to the ideas he embodied.
