LEFUEL, Hector-Martin & DENUELLE, Alexandre Dominique - Lot 82

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Lot n° 82
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6000 - 8000 EUR
LEFUEL, Hector-Martin & DENUELLE, Alexandre Dominique - Lot 82
LEFUEL, Hector-Martin & DENUELLE, Alexandre Dominique Set of drawings of Roman and Florentine architecture. [s.l., ca. 1841 - 1843]. Watercolors, pencil and black ink on paper and tracing, ca. 68.5 x 50.5 cm (backing sheet) 22 drawings by Hector Martin Lefuel and one by Alexandre Dominique Denuelle, all mounted on 12 sheets. Several compositions are signed in Lefuel's hand between 1841 and 1843; one sheet is also stamped by Alexandre Dominique Denuelle. Winner of the Prix de Rome and Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur, Hector Lefuel is best known for having been, following the death of Louis Visconti, the chief architect of the new Louvre from 1854. This project, whose aim was to complete the old buildings and link them together, is undoubtedly, along with the Opéra Garnier, one of the most famous constructions of the Second Empire. This previously unpublished collection documents the genesis of a major 19th-century architect, and attests to his close relationship with Alexandre Dominique Denuelle. Dating from his time as a boarder at the Villa Médicis, this set contains several preparatory sheets for his consignment concerning the three temples at san Nicola in Carcere, for which Lefuel proposed a restoration project. Gifted with a keen sense of observation and a sharp pencil stroke, the young architect took advantage of his long stay in Italy to carry out numerous surveys and model drawings. He depicted the Roman Forum, and in particular the Arch of Septimius Severus, in a number of his compositions, as well as the Villa Hadrienne and the Villa Madame. In addition to some sheets drawn in Rome in 1841, this collection also includes others made in Florence in 1843. During this period, Hector Lefuel went to the city of the Lily to help his friend, the artist Ernest Hébert. Henri Laborde reports in particular that the architect, "deprived of everything that could help him carry out his work, deprived of his books and portfolios, (...) executed on the corner of a table the vast drawings he was to submit to the judgment of the Académie, and in which, - these are the very words of the report made on this occasion - 'The Académie found the qualities it had recognized in all the submissions of the same pensionnaire'" (Henri Delaborde, Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de M. Lefuel, Paris, Firman. Lefuel, Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1882, p. 10). Faithful in his friendships, Hector Lefuel forged many trusting relationships, as evidenced by the presence of a leaf by Alexandre Dominique Denuelle. Long before they collaborated on the Louvre, the two men seem to have known each other in Italy. This unpublished sheet by the painter and decorator is based on the ceiling of the Villa Farnésine in Rome. In this composition, the artist demonstrates his talent as a copyist and colorist. Alexandre Denuelle enjoyed a brilliant career, collaborating with many brilliant architects in addition to Lefuel, including Viollet-le-Duc and Charles-Auguste Questel. This previously unpublished set is a precious testimony to the early years of two promising Villa Medici boarders. For Hector Lefuel and Alexandre Denuelle, their stay in Italy was an instructive experience, and one that helped shape their work, which was imbued with the eclecticism and historicism of 19th-century art. Hector-Martin Lefuel (1810 - 1880) was a French historicist architect. Winner of the Prix de Rome and Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur, he is best known for having been, following the death of Louis Visconti, the chief architect of the new Louvre from 1854. This project, whose aim was to complete the old buildings and link them together, is undoubtedly, along with the Opéra Garnier, one of the most famous constructions of the Second Empire. Alexandre Dominique Denuelle (1818 - 1879) was a French painter and architect. His most famous works include the decoration of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the Salon Carré and the Salle des Sept-Cheminées in the Louvre. Henri Delaborde, Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de M. Lefuel, Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1882, 23 p. Pierre Pinon and François-Xavier Amprimoz, Les Envois de Rome : 1778-1968 : architecture et archéologie, Rome, Ecole française de Rome, 1988, 455 p. Yve-Alain Bois, "LEFUEL HECTOR-(1810-1881)".
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