Attributed to Félix-Louis Leullier (Paris 1811-1882 Paris), - Lot 116

Attributed to Félix-Louis Leullier (Paris 1811-1882 Paris), after Jean-Antoine, baron Gros (1771-1835) Hercules and Diomedes Oil on canvas 98 x 69.5 cm Related work : - Jean-Antoine, baron Gros (Paris 1771-1835 Meudon),Hercules and Diomedes, oil on canvas, 324 x 426 cm, Salon de 1835 (no. 989), Toulouse, Musée des Augustins, inv. RO 112 We would like to thank Mr. Gérard Auguier, a specialist in the work of Baron Gros, for having kindly indicated, after examining the work, that it could be the version commissioned from Leullier by Ange-Pauline Dufresne (1791-?), sister-in-law of Baron Gros, which is mentioned in the correspondence between Jean-Baptiste Delestre (1800-1871) and Joseph-Désiré Court (1797-1865) (private archives, France). With his monumental work, exhibited at the Salon of 1835, Baron Gros hoped to re-impose the orthodox neo-classicism of David, his master, against the underestimated novelties of Romanticism. Gros remembered the final advice of his embittered mentor, who had written to him from exile to stop dwelling on frivolous subjects, paintings of circumstance and worldly portraits. Two larger-than-life figures were re-enacting the eighth of Hercules' labors. Diomedes, king of the Bistones, a people of Thrace, fed all foreigners who fell into his hands to his horses. Hercules, seen from the front, his head in three-quarter view, seized this monster on his chariot, which he overturned and smashed, and delivered him to the hungry horses, thus punishing him for his cruelty. Critics, however, disapproved of Gros's turnaround, seeing it as a kind of formal denial of his entire career, which until then had seen him as a pre-romantic, with his lively style, unctuous touch and rich coloring. Despairing of this resounding failure, abandoned by his pupils and plagued by serious health problems, Gros took his own life on June 25, 1835. His widow Augustine donated the work to the city of Toulouse the following year, where it can still be admired today.