4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2010.

Images(2)

The Neophyte (First Experience of the Monastery)

Artist Gustave Doré (French, 1832-1883)

CultureFrench

Dateca. 1866-1868

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions57 3/8 x 107 1/2 in. (145.7 x 273.1 cm)
Overall, Frame: 70 x 120 1/2 in. (177.8 x 306.1 cm)

InscribedSigned lower left: Gve Doré

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.2061

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 214

DescriptionThis is a large horizontal oil on canvas painting. There are ten monks seated across the canvas in the foreground, with their knees pointing to the right. They wear white hooded tunics. Two look toward the viewer, an old man with a long beard appears to look over the viewer's head, and the younger man in the center (the neophyte) makes eye contact with the viewer. He holds an open prayer book in his lap. The light appears to fall across these two faces, more than the others, which are buried in shadow. Some of the other monks are reading, some sleeping or deep in meditation, or praying the rosary.

Label TextGustave Doré French, 1832–1883 The Neophyte (First Experience of the Monastery), ca. 1866–68 Oil on canvas New to the monastery, a young man gazes woefully at the viewer. He clearly regrets his vows. Anxious images like this one were a staple of Romantic art, and Gustave Doré was a master of the genre. He took his subject from George Sand’s contemporary novel Sipiridion, in which a young novice, Brother Angel, bemoans his isolation behind the cloister wall. Doré heightens the youth’s desolation by contrasting his tense posture and youthfulness with the row of bent and decrepit old men. Doré himself noted the grim humor of the young man’s predicament and quipped, “He will be over the wall tonight.” Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.2061 ProvenanceChristie's sale, July 31, 1964; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition HistoryThe German Gallery, London, 1868. (Exh. cat. no. 32). "Art Pompier: Anti-Impressionism, 19th Century French Salon Painting," The Emily Lowe Gallery, Hofstra University, Hempstead, L.I., New York, Oct. 22, 1974 - Dec. 15, 1974. (Exh. cat. no. 38). "Seven Stages of Man," London Regional Art Gallery, London, Ontario, April 17 - June 30, 1980. (Exh. cat. p. 112). "Gustave Doré, 1832-1883," Musée d'Art Moderne, Strasbourg, June 11 - Sept. 4, 1983; Pavillon des Arts, Paris, Sept. 10 - Nov. 6, 1983. (Exh. cat. no. 64). "Reopening of the Joan P. Brock Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Opening in March of 2008. Published ReferencesMario Amaya. "Contrasts and Comparisons in French Nineteenth Century Painting," _Apollo_. 107: 194. 04/1978: 16-25. _The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_ (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982), 59. Anne Renonciat. _La Vie et l'Oeuvre de Gustave Doré_. Paris: ACR Edition. 1983. 171. Exhibition catalog. _Gustave Doré 1832-1883_. Strasbourg : Musée d'art moderne, Cabinet des estampes. 1983. No. 64. Jefferson C. Harrison. "Nineteenth-Century French Art - Part I," _The Chrysler Museum Gallery Guide_. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum. 1985: 5, no. 11. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. Norfolk: The Chrysler Museum, 1991, 122, plate 97. Fenton Johnson, "Beyond Belief: A Skeptic Searches for an American Faith," _Harper's Magazine_ (September 1998): 39-54. Eric Zafran, editor with Robert Rosenblum and Lisa Small, _Fantasy and Faith: The Art of Gustave Doré_ (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2007), 84-89, fig. 110. ISBN: 0-300-10737-4 ISBN13: 978-0-300-10737-1 Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 43, fig. 40. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1 Ralph D. Katherman, _Verse or Peverse? I Rhyme, You Decide_ (Norfolk, VA: privately printed, 2007), 24. Magali Briat-Philippe, et. al., _Gustave Doré: un peintre-né_, exh. cat. (Bourg en Bresse, France: Monastére royal de Brou à Bourg-en-Bresse, 2012), 31.