97. The Hill of Golgotha [1912]

Nicolae Vermont

1866, Bacău - 1932, Bucureşti

Estimate

EUR 9.000 - 16.000

Sold

EUR 12.000

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Session

Thu, 2 November 2017 19:30

An important chapter in the artistic creation from the maturity period of painter Nicolae Vermont is composition. The problems related to the structure of a scene with several characters and everything entailed by the complexity of drawing a composition seem to have always been a concern of the artist, who bravely tackled them both in his debut years and in his artistic maturity. Out of the long road of his activity, we should mention the moment 1893, the year when Vermont was included in the exhibition of the Artistic Circle, for the first time with a religious composition, entitled "The Way to Golgotha", marking the beginning of a cycle of compositions inspired by biblical history. The predilection of the artist for religious themes can be attributed first of all to the strong influence of the Munich painting school in the Romanian artist's style, as this witnessed an intensification of religious works in the late 19th century. Munich artists, including Vermont's professors, practiced the genre of religious composition, paying particular attention to faithfulness in depicting the natural space, the costumes and the atmosphere typical of the age. These principles were also observed by Vermont, whose religious works are clearly documentary in nature. The moment when Vermont started to work on religious subjects, with at least one composition every year, seems to be 1904, when he showed "The Shepherd's Prayer" at the Artistic Youth. After his conversion to Christianism, Vermont chose many famous biblical scenes. Thus, he painted "The Christening", "Consoling Christ", "The Stoning of Saint Stephen", "The Adulteress", "The Raising of Jairus's Daughter" or "The Descent from the Cross". This series seemed to come to an end around World War I, a moment that marked a sort of threshold for the entire generation of the Artistic Youth. What was interesting at the time, in 1910-1912, was that not just Vermont painted religious subjects. His peers Verona or Theodorescu-Sion have similar compositions in "Christ and the Samaritan Woman" (1911) and "Lux in tenebris" (1910), respectively.

References

IONESCU, Radu, PAVEL, Amelia, "Nicolae Vermont", Ed. Academiei Republicii Populare Române, București, 1958

Dimensions

width 119 cm, height 148 cm, custom 119x148

Description

oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right "N. Vermont, 1912", in black

Research information

Opera a participat la "A unsprezecea expozițiune de pictură și sculptură a Societății Tinerimea Artistică", București, aprilie 1912 este menționată și reprodusă la cat. 355, sub titlul "Crucificarea lui Isus", respectiv pe prima planșă a catalogului.
Opera este reprodusă în revista "Noua Revistă Română", vol. XII. nr. 7, duminica 27 mai 1912, la pag . 100.
Opera este reprodusă în revista "Arta", anul I nr. 6, în cadrul cronicii expoziției Tinerimea Artistică.
Opera a participat la Expoziția Internațională de la München, 1 iunie - 2 octombrie 1913, fiind singura operă cu care Nicolae Vermont participa și este menționată în catalogul expoziției sub titlul "Kreuzigung" la cat. 3328, paginile 191 și 370. Opera este menționată și analizată în monografia "Nicolae Vermont", Amelia Pavel, Radu Ionescu, Ed. Academiei R.P.R., București, 1958 la pag. 64. La acel moment opera era considerată dispărută.

Recuperată după mai bine de jumătate de secol, opera întregește unul dintre cele mai însemnate cicluri biblice realizat de vreun artist român.

Dating

1912

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