COURBET; GUSTAVE
1819 Ornans - 1877 La Tour de Peitz - school

The Death of Virginie. Oil auf canvas. 42;5 x 68cm. Framed.

Verso:
Various former exhibition labels on frame

The subjcet of the dying Virginie goes back to a novel by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737-1814) which was very popular in 19th century France.

An entry on wikipedia.de regarding this motif reads as follows:
"The novel deals with the obstacles an estate-based society used to place in the way of marriages between unequal partners. It tells the story of two semi-orphans who are raised by their mothers in the natural idyll of the Isle of Mauritius unburdened by class anatgonisms until a genteel great aunt of Virginie takes the girl to France thus separating the two young people who have meanwhile fallen in love with each other for ever. Because Virginie; staying faithful to Paul - refusing to be married befitting her social statues and finally being sent back by her annoyed aunt - becomes victim of a shipwreck. Paul again is so frustrated following some disillusioning lectures held by a befriended old man about the strict class society of Ancien R間ime France that he loses all interest in life after Virginie's death and dies too." [translation]

Comparable depictions from the same era are to be found in the works of Alexandre Cabanel
(1823-1889) or Eug鑞e Isabey (1804-1886).
Art trade; Van Ham.