Henri FANTIN-LATOUR
1836 - 1904
The Trojans in Carthage
1893
Charcoal
306 × 435 mm
Annotated in the upper left in pencil 1er Xbre 93, in the lower left CF 1513
Provenance: Ms. Fantin-Latour ; Louis-Antoine and Véronique Prat (their stamp in the lower right, Lugt 3617)
Reference: Ms. Fantin-Latour, Catalogue de l’œuvre complet de Fantin-Latour (1849-1904), Paris, 1911, p. 160, n° 1513 ; exhibition cat. Fantin-Latour interprète Berlioz, La Côte-Saint-André, Berlioz Museum, July 9th – December 3rd, 2011, p. 74
A great admirer of Wagner and Berlioz, Henri Fantin-Latour actively sought to incorporate the musical realm into painting. In 1876, he began to work on Les Troyens [The Trojans], an opera composed between April of 1856 and 1858 by Hector Berlioz, based on Virgil’s Aeneid and recognized as one of the composer’s finest. Fantin-Latour would produce six paintings and ten lithographs based on it, including four scenes depicting the Trojans in the city of Carthage. The final painting was exhibited at the 1894 Salon (n° 714).
Dated from October of 1893, this drawing is the first jist of the composition. The artist closely follows Berlioz’s libretto and anchors the scene into a vast chamber of Dido’s palace in Carthage, for the recitative of Act 3. It is the moment when Ascanius bows to the queen of Carthage and gives her presents in exchange for her hospitality. Aeneas hides in the background, behind a large shield. The hazy appearance of the drawing reinforces the dramatic quality of the composition.
A similar piece can be found at the Detroit Museum (Detroit, MI, Institute of Arts, inv. 58.218).