The sons of Clovis II, 1880 by Évariste Vital Luminais ::

Details

Other Title

The sons of Clovis

Alternative title

Les enervés de Jumièges

Date

1880

Media category

Painting

Materials used

oil on canvas

Dimensions

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

Signature & date

Signed l.l., brown oil "E. Luminais [underlined]". Not dated.

Credit

Purchased 1886

Location

South Building, ground level, Grand Courts

Accession number

712

Copyright

Reproduction requests

Artist information

Évariste Vital Luminais

Artist profile

Works in the collection

2

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About

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.

Audio

The sons of Clovis II - Évariste Luminais 6:26

Exhibition history

Shown in 7 exhibitions

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, National Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 1896–1896

The second interchange loan collections, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1896–1896

The second interchange loan collections, National Gallery of Victoria [Swanston Street], Melbourne, 1896–1896
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
Grand Courts collection rehang, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov 2021–2023

Bibliography

Referenced in 37 publications

Dominique Bussillet, Les Énervés de Jumièges, 'Le peintre et le tableau', 2007, pp 53–99: p 86, col illus p 75.
Edmund Capon AM, OBE and Jan Meek (Editors), Portrait of a Gallery, 'European art in the old courts', pg. 14-23, Sydney, 1984, 19.
Tom Carment, Look, 'The art that made me', Sydney, Sep 2015, pp 14–16: p 15.
Patricia Crawford, History and legend in some selected paintings at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1980, 12 (illus.).
Du Seigneur, L'Art et l'artistes au Salon de 1880, 1880.
L. Enault., Paris Salon, Article written, Paris, 1890.
Renée Free, AGNSW Collections, 'The Western Heritage, Renaissance to Twentieth Century', pg. 108-172, Sydney, 1994, 108.
Renée Free, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'European', Sydney, 1988, pp 36–56: p 41.
Samuel Carter Hall (Editor), The Art Journal, London, 1880, 246.
Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Sydney, 1999, col illus p 41.
Peter Kingston, Look, 'The art that made me', Sydney, Aug 2016, pp 12–13: p 13.
E. Michel., Revue des Deux Mondes, Article, 1880.
National Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Art Gallery of New South Wales: exhibition of continental art, 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, Sydney, 1896. cat.no. 1
Chiara O'Reilly, Journal of the history of collections, vol 32, no 2, 'Collecting French art in the late 1800s at the Art Gallery of New South Wales', Jul 2020, pp 313–25: pp 313, 319–21, col illus p 315, fig 3.
Paris Salon, 1880 Catalogue illustré du Salon, 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, Renée Free and Nicholas Draffin, Salon and Académie: the charm of tradition: a catalogue of nineteenth-century European salon works, Sydney, 1984, (illus.). no catalogue numbers
Editor Unknown (Editor), Society, 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 Times, 10 Nov 1880.
Author Unknown, Le Petit Francais illustre, cover (illus.).
Editor Unknown (Editor), The Architect, 06 Nov 1880.
Editor Unknown (Editor), The Academy, 06 Nov 1880.
Editor Unknown (Editor), Bulletin, Sydney, 13 May 1972.
Editor Unknown (Editor), Athenaeum, London, 06 Nov 1880.
Editor Unknown (Editor), The Graphic, 13 Nov 1880.
Editor Unknown (Editor), The Illustrated London News, London, 06 Nov 1880.
Editor Unknown (Editor), The Daily Chronicle, 02 Nov 1880.
Editor Unknown (Editor), The Morning Advertiser, 02 Nov 1880.
Editor Unknown (Editor), The Daily News, 02 Nov 1880.
Editor Unknown (Editor), The Morning Post, 01 Nov 1880.
Editor Unknown (Editor), The Standard, 01 Nov 1880.
Editor Unknown (Editor), The Globe, 01 Nov 1880.
Editor Unknown (Editor), Art and Australia, 'Victorian favourites: a conversation - Elwyn Lynn and Lloyd Rees', pg. 49-56, Sydney, Spring 1984, 49.
Editor Unknown (Editor), Sydney daily telegraph, Sydney, 25 Nov 1880.
Editor Unknown (Editor), Saturday Review, 04 Dec 1880.

Provenance

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

The sons of Clovis II