Sappho

Physical description

Sappho rests on the promontory of Leucadia in an attitude of despair, wearing an elaborately patterned red and purple gown apparently based on kimonos in a Japanese print Moreau owned. Her lyre is slung over her shoulder. Seagulls circle overhead and the setting sun presages her impending suicide. At left, a pillar surmounted by the griffon of Apollo further emphasises Sappho's status as a poet.

Place of Origin

Paris, France (painted)

Date

1871-1872 (painted)

Artist/maker

Moreau, Gustave, born 1826 - died 1897 (painter (artist))

Materials and Techniques

Watercolour

Marks and inscriptions

'--Gustave Moreau--'

Dimensions

Height: 18.4 cm, Width: 12.4 cm

Object history note

Moreau exhibited Sappho at the annual exhibition of the Cercle des Arts in March 1872 (which belies the prevailing notion that his work remained out of the public eye between the Salons of 1869 and 1876), where it caught the eye of Parisian salon hostess Marie Raffalovich. She bought the watercolour from Moreau in June of the same year, thus beginning more than two decades of patronage. Although Madame Raffalovich bought several other paintings by Moreau, a collection of letters she wrote to Moreau which are preserved in the Musée Gustave Moreau in Paris shows that Sappho remained her firm favourite -- she even wrote a fairy tale (never published) based on it.

The watercolour passed to her son, André, a poet, salon host and rival of Oscar Wilde in 1890s London, at an unknown date. However, it was definitely in his possession by 1894, as a letter that year from Aubrey Beardsley mentions 'your beautiful Moreau'. When he died, André left instructions for his companion, the poet and priest John Gray (the presumed model for Dorian Gray in The Picture of Dorian Gray) to donate it to the V&A.

Historical significance: This is one of the only works by Moreau in the national collections (along with Costume design for a dancer, also in the V&A, and St George and the Dragon in the National Gallery).

Historical context note

This watercolour, with its rich, jewel-like colours is characteristic of Moreau’s later period. It shows the Ancient poetess Sappho on the top of a cliff lamenting over the desertion of her lover, Phaon. The lyre, slung over her shoulder, is the traditionnal attribute of poets. At left, a pillar surmounted by the griffon of Apollo, the Greco-Roman god of poetry, further emphasises Sappho's status as a poet.

Both Sappho’s vivid gown and her pose are taken from a Japanese woodcut by Utagawa Kunisada titled Genji taking the air in summer on the Sumida, which Moreau had purchased from E. Desoye’s gallery ‘Spécialités des objets du Japon’, the leading Japanese art dealer in Paris in the 1860s.

Signed ‘Gustave Moreau’ the work titled Sappho by the artist was exhibited at the annual exhibition of the Cercle des Arts, which opened on the 20 January 1872. There it caught the eye of Parisian salon hostess and great collector Marie Raffalovich. She bought the watercolour from Moreau in June of the same year, thus beginning more than two decades of patronage. Although Madame Raffalovich bought several other paintings by Moreau, it is known from her correpsondence with the artist that Sappho remained her firm favourite.

The watercolour passed to her son, André, a poet, salon host and rival of Oscar Wilde in 1890s London, at an unknown date. However, it was definitely in his possession by 1894, as a letter that year from Aubrey Beardsley mentions 'your beautiful Moreau'. When he died, André left instructions for his companion, the poet and priest John Gray (the presumed model for Dorian Gray in The Picture of Dorian Gray) to donate it to the V&A.

Moreau’s fastination with Sappho as a subject began in 1849, after which he produced several cycles into the 1870s in both watercolour and oil. Sappho is part one of three distinct episodes depicting her death; the other two are entitled Sappho flinging herself into the Sea (in a private collection in Paris) and Sappho lying at the foot of the Cliff (formerly in the Esnault-Pelterie Collection; the smaller version now in the museum at Saint-Lo).

This is one of the only works by Moreau in a British national collection (along with Costume design for a dancer (E.49-1968), also in the V&A, and St George and the Dragon in the National Gallery).

A key work of the Symbolists was J K Huysmans' novel A Rebours, which contains an enthusiastic description of Moreau's exhibits in the Salon of 1876. Moreau's paintings were admired by Marcel Proust and by the Symbolists of the 1880s and 1890s, the group reacted against the fin-de-siècle realism in art.

Descriptive line

Watercolour by Gustave Moreau depicting 'Sappho resting on a cliff top'. French School, 1871-1872.

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Toni Stooss, ed., Gustave Moreau Symboliste, exh. cat., Zurich, Kunsthaus, 1986, pp. 148-49, no. 38.
French Symbolist Painters: Moreau, Puvis de Chavannes, Redon and their followers, exh. cat., London, Hayward Gallery, 1972, p. 90, no. 172.
Incorrectly dates the watercolour to 1884, based on a series of costume designs Moreau did for a revival of Gounod's opera Sappho in 1884. This inaccuracy has been echoed in the V&A Prints and Drawings catalogue; in fact, the two works, although related in terms of subject matter, are more than a decade apart in Moreau's oeuvre.
Le Japonisme, exh. cat., Paris, Grand Palais and Tokyo, Museum of Western Art, 1988, pp. 148-49.
Discusses the influence of Japanese prints on Sappho, particularly the design of her gown and her pose.
Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau. Monographie et nouvelle catalogue de l'oeuvre achevé, Paris, 1998, p. 322.
Brief entry in the catalogue raisonné, with the most complete provenance available; unfortunately, it does not note when Sappho passed from Marie Raffalovich to her son André.
Geneviève Lacambre, ed., Gustave Moreau: between epic and dream, exh. cat., Paris, Grand Palais, Chicago, Art Institute and New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, pp. 111-13, no. 40.
Lacambre's catalogue entry on Sappho is the most thorough and accurate currently available; it includes a brief discussion of Marie Raffalovich's purchase of the watercolour and of the influence of Japanese prints.
Rachel Sloan, 'Gustave Moreau and the Raffalovich family: new documents on Sappho', The Burlington Magazine 148, May 2006.
An analysis of Marie Raffalovich's correspondence with Moreau concerning the watercolour, and of the negotiations surrounding its donation to the V&A after André Raffalovich's death.
Gustave Moreau et le Symbolisme, exh. cat., Kofu, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, 1984, p. 93, no. 59.
100 Great Paintings in The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1985, p.180
The following is the full text of the entry:

"Gustave Moreau 1826-1898
French School
SAPPHO
Signed Gustave Moreau
Water-colour, sight size 18.4 X 12.4 cm
P.11-1934. Given by Canon Gray, in memory of Andre Raffalovich.

Sappho rests on a cliff top in an attitude of despair, seagulls and the setting sun symbols of death in the sky; the symbols of poetry are the lyre slung over her shoulders and behind her to the left, a pillar surmounted by the griffin of Apollo. From its subject matter the water-colour must be the first of the three episodes depicting the death of the Greek poetess ; the other two are entitled 'Sappho flinging herself into the Sea' (in a private collection in Paris) and 'Sappho lying at the foot of the Cliff' (formerly in the Esnault-Pelterie Collection; the smaller version now in the museum at Saint-Lo).

Moreau exhibited a series of mythological subjects, including 'Oedipus and the Sphinx', 'Jason' and 'Orpheus' at the Paris Salons of 1864-6, but the style and complex technique of this water-colour, with its rich, jewel-like colours is characteristic of his later work.

A pencil drawing in the Museum's collection is inscribed 1 ere Danseuse Mlle Subra Opera de Sapho, and though Moreau is not known to have designed for Gounod's opera of that title, it would seem that the subject was inspired by a visit to a revival of Gounod's work in 1884, and that all three paintings may be dated from about this year.

Certainly there is something rather 'stagey' about the composition, with the heroine seated in the centre in a semirecumbent position in which an aria could be sung with comfort, a backcloth sky, and the pillar and part of the cliff as drop scenes. The same could be said for 'Sappho flinging herself into the Sea', for she falls in a graceful upright pose, holding up her lyre, as though supported on wires, instead of dropping headlong and sprawling into the sea.

Moreau's paintings were admired by Marcel Proust and by the Symbolists of the 1880s and 1890s, a group who reacted against the fin-de-siècle realism in art and helped to release it from a slavery to appearances. A key work of the Symbolists was J K Huysmans' novel A Rebours, which contains an enthusiastic description of Moreau's exhibits in the Salon of 1876.

Jean Hamilton"

Exhibition History

88A (Victoria and Albert Museum 01/10/2003-31/05/2004)
The Wilde Years (Barbican Art Gallery 05/10/2000-14/01/2001)
Gustave Moreau (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 07/06/1999-05/09/1999)
Gustave Moreau (Art Institute of Chicago 10/02/1999-25/04/1999)
Gustave Moreau (Grand Palais 28/09/1998-04/01/1999)
The Inner Eye (Dulwich Picture Gallery 10/04/1997-01/06/1997)
The Inner Eye (Glyn Vivian Art Gallery 18/01/1997-09/03/1997)
The Inner Eye (Brighton Museum and Art Gallery 23/11/1996-05/01/1997)
The Inner Eye (Manchester Art Gallery 14/09/1996-03/11/1996)
The World of Watercolours (Park Lane Hotel 22/01/1992-26/01/1992)
Gustave Moreau et le Symbolisme (Mie Prefectural Museum of Art, Tsu 04/01/1984-11/02/1985)
Gustave Moreau et le Symbolisme (Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura 27/10/1984-02/12/1984)
Gustave Moreau et le Symbolisme (Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Kofu 09/09/1984-14/10/1984)
Gustave Moreau: between epic and dream (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 24/05/1999-22/08/1999)
Gustave Moreau: between epic and dream (Art Institute of Chicago 13/02/1999-25/04/1999)
Gustave Moreau 1826-1898 (Grand Palais 29/09/1998-04/01/1999)
Gustave Moreau Symboliste (Kunsthaus Zurich 14/03/1986-25/05/1986)
French Symbolist Painters: Moreau, Puvis de Chavannes, Redon and their followers (Walker Art Gallery 09/08/1972-17/09/1972)
French Symbolist Painters: Moreau, Puvis de Chavannes, Redon and their followers (Hayward Gallery, London 07/06/1972-23/07/1972)

Associated names

Gray, John; Raffalovich, Marc-André

Materials

Watercolour

Techniques

Watercolour drawing

Subjects depicted

Poets; Suicide; Sappho; Leucadia

Collection code

PDP