611

Attributed to Enoch Wood Perry, Jr., N.A. (American/New Orleans/New York, 1831-1915), "Last Vision of Jeanne d' Arc with the Fairy Tree," c. 1901,

oil on canvas laid down on masonite, Study for the Larger Composition in the Greenville County Museum of Art, unsigned, label en verso with unconfirmed provenance, presented in a giltwood frame,
H.- 12 in., W.- 19 in., Framed- H.-15 1/2 in., W.- 22 1/2 in.

  • Provenance: The Estate of Laura Simon Nelson, formerly married to Dr. James W. Nelson, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

    Note: Contrary to most biographies on Enoch Wood Perry, Jr. that state he briefly visited New Orleans, Perry was a New Orleanian; he spent his formative years in New Orleans (not Boston where he was born). Perry moved to New Orleans in 1840 at the age of nine and stayed through the age of twenty-two, returning regularly. After attending high school, Perry worked in a Mercantile House from 1848-1852 before embarking for France and returned to New Orleans from 1858-1862, where he painted three important commissions: portraits of "John Slidell" and "Jefferson Davis," and a group portrait "Signing the Ordinance of the Secession of Louisiana." In 1866 Perry moved to New York, where his career flourished, regularly exhibiting as a member of the National Academy of Design. His younger brother, Alfred, also left New Orleans and established himself as a doctor in San Francisco, but his parents and a sister remained in New Orleans. His father, Enoch Wood Perry, Sr. (1805-1901), was a notable merchant and antebellum politician, serving as Chairman of Louisiana State Central Democratic Committee in the 1840s and as Commissioner of Louisiana at the Paris Exposition of 1878.

    Joan of Arc, "the Maid of Orleans," a pivotal figure celebrated on par with Liberty and Marianne in the early days of the French Third Republic and 1878 Exposition was also a pivotal figure to the French Founding Fathers of New Orleans. Often dubbed the "Unofficial Patron Saint of New Orleans," Joan of Arc flourished in the early 20th century, though her namesake and history had always been present. A Packet Steamer in Perry's youth in the 1840s, named the "Joan of Arc", regularly carried passengers from New Orleans upriver to St. Louis. In 1900 Perry was in New Orleans and Baton Rouge painting Live Oaks and other somber/mysterious tree scenes after his sister Emma died. By late 1901 when Perry returned to New Orleans following his father's death, the cult of Joan of Arc was in full swing with plays and vitagraph picture shows, costumes and daily news reported from abroad on the status of her beatification. It is within this period that Perry painted/finished the "Last Vision of Joan of Arc" while settling his father's estate. The painting, in the permanent collection of the Greenville County Museum of Art, is an unusual composition for Perry that combines an earlier 1900 composition by Perry "The Fairy Tree" of children dancing around a tree (which sold in 2013 at James D. Julia) with a Pre-Raphaelite-style image of a sleeping Saint Joan of Arc suited in armor. According to Arc's writings, the "Fairy Tree" was an important part of her childhood and precursor of the visions that followed. It was a large beech tree not far from Domremy, where the sick came to be healed, and children (including herself) made garlands and danced beneath it. In 1896 Mark Twain "translated" the Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc from Sieur Louis Le Comte; his description likely further contributed to the dream composition of this work- the "Last Vision of Jeanne d' Arc": "I know that when the Children of the Tree die…-they turn their longing eyes toward home, and there, far-shining, as though a rift in a cloud that curtains heaven, they see the soft picture of the Fairy Tree, clothed in a tree of golden light." In 1901, a "Last Vision of Jeanne d' Arc" was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago's Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Sculptures by American Artists as no. 289 (Oct. 29 -Dec. 8), and it was copyrighted to ensure it could not be copied by other artists. Curiously, the "Last Vision of Jeanne d' Arc" in the Greenville County Museum, for which this lot is an identical smaller study, is dated 1903.

    Reference (Photo credits): Greenville County Museum of Art, Southern Collection, "Jeanne d' Arc,"
    New York, Hudson Hills, 1995, p. 113; Enoch Wood Perry Jr. (American, 1831-1915) "Dancing Children," James D. Julia, Jan. 30., 2013, lot 1185.
  • Condition: Condition is not stated in the description of the item. The absence of a condition report does not mean that the item is free of damage or condition issues. Some items do show signs of age or wear. CCAG strongly suggests that you do not bid without requesting a condition report. Requests for condition reports will not be honored after 5 p.m. CST on the Tuesday prior to the auction.

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November 9, 2024 10:00 AM CST
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