The Late Empire: Honorius
Artist
Jean-Paul Laurens
(French, 1838-1921)
CultureFrench
Date1880
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall, Image: 60 1/2 x 42 1/2 in. (153.7 x 108 cm)
Overall, Frame (Inner frame): 61 3/8 × 43 3/16 × 1 7/16 in. (155.9 × 109.7 × 3.7 cm)
Overall, Frame (Outer frame): 63 3/4 × 45 3/4 × 3 in. (161.9 × 116.2 × 7.6 cm)
Overall, Frame (Inner frame): 61 3/8 × 43 3/16 × 1 7/16 in. (155.9 × 109.7 × 3.7 cm)
Overall, Frame (Outer frame): 63 3/4 × 45 3/4 × 3 in. (161.9 × 116.2 × 7.6 cm)
InscribedSigned and dated, lower right: "Jn. Paul Laurens, 1880"
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.671
Collections
Not on view
DescriptionOil on canvas painting depicting Flavius Honorius at the age of eleven, the time of his coronation. He sits on a throne and holds a sword. His feet do not touch the ground. The predominant colors are brilliant golds and reds.Label TextJean-Paul Laurens French, 1838–1921 The Late Empire: Honorius, 1880 Oil on canvas Many 19th-century artists depicted the decline and fall of ancient Rome as a parable of moral and political decay. Such is the case with Jean-Paul Laurens’ vivid portrayal of the boy-emperor Honorius Flavius (384-423). Crowned as leader of the crumbling empire at age 11, he appears here as a helpless innocent—as overwhelmed by his throne and regalia as by the forces of history. A mere child, his feet don’t even reach the floor. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.671 ProvenanceDarius O. Mills, New York; Sale, Parke-Bernet, Nov. 11, 1970 (cat. no. 70); Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition HistorySalon, Paris, 1880. (Exhib. cat. no. 2150). "French Salon Paintings from Southern Collections," The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, January 21 - March 3, 1983; The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, April 4 - May 15, 1983; The North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, June 25 - August 21, 1983; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL, September 15 - October 23, 1983. (Exhib. cat. no. 47). "In Support of Liberty: European Paintings at the 1883 Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition," The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY, June 29 - Sept. 1, 1986; National Academy of Design, NY, Sept. 18 - Dec. 7, 1986. (Exhib. cat. no. 43). "Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921), peintre d'histoire," Musée d'Orsay, Paris, October 6, 1997 - January 4, 1998; Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, February 4 - May 4, 1998. (Exhib. cat. p.103). "Rome and the Barbarians," Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy, January 26 - July 20, 2008; Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany, August 22 - December 7, 2008 “Marvels and Mirages of Orientalism: Benjamin-Constant in His Time,” The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, January 26 – June 7, 2015. "Keepers of the Flame: Parrish, Wyeth, Rockwell and the Narrative Tradition," Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA, June 9 - October 28, 2018.Published ReferencesEric M. Zafran, with an introductory essay by Gerald M. Ackerman. _French Salon Paintings from Southern Collections_. Atlanta, GA: The High Museum of Art, 1982, 134-135, No. 47; Color ill. 135. H. W. Janson and Robert Rosenblum. _19th Century Art_. NY: Harry N. Abrams, Publishers, 1984, 376, fig. 299. Maureen C. O'Brien. _In Support of Liberty: European Paintings at the 1883 Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition_. Southampton, NY: The Parrish Art Museum, 1986, 158-159, No. 43; ill. 159. Lois Mari Fink. _Ameican Art at the Nineteenth-Century Paris Salons_. Washington, DC, and Cambridge: National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution and Cambridge University Press, 1990, 163, Fig. 59 (b/w ill.). Pierluigi De Vicchi and Elda Cerchiari. _Arte nel Tempo_. Vol. 3 (Milan: Gruppo Editoriale Fabri, 1991), 230, Fig. 217 (color ill.). Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum, 1991, 139, No. 110, color ill. Gerald M. Ackerman. _American Orientalists. ACR Edition_. Paris. 1994:16-18. Alain Daguerre de Hureaux and Henri Loyrette, comps. _Jean-Paul Laurens 1838-1921 Peintre d'Histoire_. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1997, 101-103, color ill. 103. Robert Rosenblum, painting and H. W. Janson, sculpture, _19th-Century Art_ (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005), 386, fig. 373. Stephen Gjertson, ed., "Jean-Paul Laurens: A Late 19th Century Master," _American Society of Classical Realism Newsletter_ 16 (Spring 2005): cover, 2-9. François Chausson, _Stemmata Aurea: Constantin, Justine, Théodosa_ (Rome: Erma di Bretschneider, 2007) Cover. Jean-Jacques Aillagon, _Rome and the Barbarians: The Birth of a New World_, exh. cat., Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy, 2008, 240, cat. no. III.2. Editor, "Rome and the Barbarians," _Military History_ Vol. 25, No.2 (May/June 2008): 74. Nathalie Bondil, _Benjamin-Constant: Marvels and Mirages of Orientalism_ (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014) fig. 44. Eric M. Zafran, "Norfolk's Salon Masterworks Shine Again," _Fine Art Connoisseur_, November-December 2014, 49. Deborah C. Pollack, _Visual Art and the Urban Evolution of the New South_ (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2015) plate 7. Jamie Mulherron, ed., _The Pittas Collection, Volume 4: The Nude Aesthetic_ (Pittas Collection, 2021) 257, fig. 46.3.
