Pascal Adolphe Jean DAGNAN-BOUVERET (1852-1929) - Lot 54

Pascal Adolphe Jean DAGNAN-BOUVERET (1852-1929) Portrait of sculptor Jean Dampt, circa 1899 Oil on panel with gold background 20 x 17.5 cm. (some chipping) This portrait is to be compared with the painting by Dagnan-Bouveret, Jean Dampt holding Le Chevalier Raymondin et La Fée Mélusine, 1899 signed and dedicated to Jean Dampt, his admirer and friend. Trained by Gérôme, Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret made his mark in the last decades of the 19th century with a rigorous style of painting based on precise drawing, solid modeling and great attention to portraiture. This portrait, painted in 1899, represents Jean Dampt, a Burgundian sculptor based in Paris. Dampt did not limit himself to Salon sculpture: he also designed furniture, objects and decorative pieces, in a spirit in which the work of art came close to the precious object. This orientation places him among the artists who, at the end of the 19th century, sought to unite sculpture, decoration and the applied arts. Here, Dagnan-Bouveret depicts him without a studio setting, tools or visible work. The framing is simple, focused on the bust and face. The frontal gaze, upright pose and sober clothing give the model a firm, almost austere presence. The painting is not anecdotal: it gives a direct, serious image of Dampt, faithful to the idea of an artist committed to a job well done. This portrait should be seen in the context of the friendship between Dagnan-Bouveret and Jean Dampt. In 1895, Dampt had modeled a bust of Jean Dagnan-Bouveret as a child, the painter's son, now in the Musée d'Orsay. Four years later, Dagnan-Bouveret in turn painted the sculptor's portrait. This rapprochement gives the work a personal significance, and it appears as the testimony of an exchange between two close artists, rather than as a simple commissioned portrait.