Terms and conditions of use
Saint Geneviève provisioning Paris under siege
(Sainte Geneviève ravitaillant Paris assiégé)
(1897-1898)
Medium
distemper, pencil and chalk on canvas
Measurements
465.0 × 345.5 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1925
Gallery location
19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
These three monumental canvases are cartoons (full-scale preparatory designs) for Pierre Puvis de Chavannes’s cycle of paintings based on the life of St Geneviève, patron saint of Paris. Designed for one of the city’s great civic buildings, the Panthéon, these works tell one continuously unfolding story from the life of the saint, who lived in Paris during the fifth century. When Paris was besieged by the Frankish leader Clovis, the city was blockaded and its citizens brought near to starvation. Geneviève and a band of followers broke through the blockade, and returned to Paris in boats laden with life-saving provisions.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Paris, France
Accession Number
1929-3
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Human Figures Religion and Mythology
Subjects (specific)
boats feeding monochrome Paris (inhabited place) patron saints providing sieges suffering
Provenance
Exhibited Societe Nationale des Beaux-arts Salon, Paris, 1898 (exhibited after the opening, and thus not included in the catalogue); deposited with Durand-Ruel (dealer), Paris, 24 February 1899 (deposit no. 9483) by the artist’s nephew and heir, Edouard Vincent de Vaugelas (1844–1920), from whom purchased by Durand-Ruel, 12 December 1905, nos 8047, 8045, 8046 (photo nos 7568, 7566, 7567); sold by the Paris branch of Durand-Ruel to the New York Branch, 27 March 1924; from where purchased, on the advice of Frank Rinder, for the Felton Bequest, 1924.