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Collection

An image of The sons of Clovis II by Évariste Vital Luminais

Évariste Vital Luminais

(France 18 Oct 1822–May 1896)

Title
The sons of Clovis II
Other titles:
The sons of Clovis
Alternative title:
Les enervés de Jumièges
Year
1880
Media category
Painting
Materials used
oil on canvas
Dimensions

190.7 x 275.8cm stretcher; 218.8 x 335.0 x 8.5cm frame

Signature & date
Signed l.l., brown oil "E. Luminais [underlined]". Not dated.
Credit
Purchased 1886
Accession number
712
Location
19th & 20th c European art
Further information

This demonstration of parental discipline of the Merovingian period remains shocking more than a century after its completion. It says much for the grotes-query of nineteenth-century Salon painting, of which it is so spectacular an example, that 'The sons of Clovis II' is still a collection favourite. Alarmed by her sons' rebellion against their absent father, King Clovis, their mother - the regent Sainte Bathilde - has their tendons cut before sending them, immobilised, downstream on a barge to their fate. Though Luminais foreshadows the salvation of the malefactors in the distant shape of a Benedictine monastery, he is clearly more concerned with their present gruesome predicament. His great success with this painting in the Paris Salon of 1880 was not repeated, its cadaverous sensationalism proving a hard act to follow.

AGNSW Handbook, 1999.

Provenance (1)

Source unknown, Paris/France, Purchased by the AGNSW in Paris 1886

Bibliography (34)

Dominique Bussillet, Les Énervés de Jumièges, 'Le peintre et le tableau', pg.53-99, 2007, 75 (colour illus.), 86.

Edmund Capon and Jan Meek (Editors), Portrait of a Gallery, 'European art in the old courts', pg. 14-23, Sydney, 1984, 19.

Patricia Crawford, History and Legend in some selected paintings at the Art Gallery of New South Wales 1980, Sydney, 1980, 12 (illus.).

Du Seigneur, L'Art et l'artistes au Salon de 1880, 1880.

L. Enault., Paris Salon 1890, Article written, 1890.

Renée Free, Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook, 'European', pg. 36-56, Domain, 1988, 41.

Renée Free, The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, 'The Western Heritage, Renaissance to Twentieth Century', pg. 108-172, Sydney, 1994, 108.

Samuel Carter Hall (Editor), The Art Journal 1880, London, 1880, 246.

Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Western Collection: Paintings and Sculpture', pg. 17-77, Domain, 1999, 41 (colour illus.).

Elwyn Lynn (Editor), Art and Australia (Vol. 22, No. 1) Spring 1984, 'Victorian favourites: a conversation - Elwyn Lynn and Lloyd Rees', pg. 49-56, Sydney, Spring 1984, 49.

E. Michel., Revue des Deux Mondes 1880, Article, 1880.

National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Continental Art 1940, Sydney, 1940. cat.no. 40

National Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Victoria [Swanston Street] and Art Gallery of South Australia, Catalogue of the second interchange loan collections of oil paintings and watercolour drawings: exhibited in the Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide Galleries April, 1896 1896, Sydney, 1896. cat.no. 1

Paris Salon, 1880 Catalogue illustré du Salon 1880, 1880, 34 (illus.). cat.no. 2390, as 'Les enerves de Jumieges'

Various, The Pencil Orchids Second Anthology, New South Wales, 1995, cover (illus.).

Anna Waldmann, Salon and Academie: the charm of tradition 1984, Domain, 1984, (illus.). no catalogue numbers

Editor Unknown (Editor), The Times 10 Nov 1880, 10 Nov 1880.

Editor Unknown (Editor), The Graphic 13 Nov 1880, 13 Nov 1880.

Editor Unknown (Editor), Sydney daily telegraph 25 Nov 1880, Sydney, 25 Nov 1880.

Editor Unknown (Editor), Saturday Review 04 Dec 1880, 04 Dec 1880.

Editor Unknown (Editor), Society 18 Dec 1880, 18 Dec 1880.

Author Unknown, Art Criticism on Luminais's Picture, "Les Enervés de Jumièges" Exhibited at the Paris Salon, 1880; French Gallery, London 1881; Munich International Exhibition, 1883.

Editor Unknown (Editor), The Morning Post 01 Nov 1880, 01 Nov 1880.

Author Unknown, Le Petit Francais illustre, cover (illus.).

Editor Unknown (Editor), Bulletin 13 May 1972, Sydney, 13 May 1972.

Editor Unknown (Editor), The Standard 01 Nov 1880, 01 Nov 1880.

Editor Unknown (Editor), The Daily News 02 Nov 1880, 02 Nov 1880.

Editor Unknown (Editor), The Globe 01 Nov 1880, 01 Nov 1880.

Editor Unknown (Editor), The Morning Advertiser 02 Nov 1880, 02 Nov 1880.

Editor Unknown (Editor), The Daily Chronicle 02 Nov 1880, 02 Nov 1880.

Editor Unknown (Editor), The Illustrated London News 06 Nov 1880, London, 06 Nov 1880.

Editor Unknown (Editor), Athenaeum 06 Nov 1880, 06 Nov 1880.

Editor Unknown (Editor), The Academy 06 Nov 1880, 06 Nov 1880.

Editor Unknown (Editor), The Architect 06 Nov 1880, 06 Nov 1880.

Exhibition history (6)

Paris Salon, 1880, Paris Salon, Paris, 1880–1880

Unknown, French Gallery 1881, Messrs Wallis & Sons, French Gallery, London, London, 1881–1881

Munich International Exhibition, 1883, Exhibition Venue Unknown, 1883–1883

The second interchange loan collections:

Exhibition of Continental Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov 1940–Dec 1940

Salon and Academie: the charm of tradition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Nov 1984–May 1985