Famous for having captured the Second Empire through his camera, Gustave Le Gray (1820-1884), one of the founding masters of photography, was also a painter. This other side of his work nevertheless remained in the greatest confidentiality until the recent rediscovery of a handful of paintings, including the magnificent portrait of his first wife Palmira Madeleine Gertrude Leonardi.
In 2002, in the text written on the occasion of the artist's monographic exhibition, Sylvie Aubenas, chief curator of the department of prints and photography at the National Library of France, still pointed out that on this date, none of his paintings had yet been identified, although it was known that Gustave Le Gray, alongside his activity as a photographer, never stopped painting all his life, in Paris or in the East.
The painting, of both exceptional rarity and exceptional quality, sparked a fierce bidding battle between the curators of several museums in the auction rooms of Marc Labarbe, in Toulouse. The Musée d'Orsay finally won the portrait for €67,600 using its right of pre-emption, a prerogative reserved for the State that allows museums to replace the last bidders in an auction, under a French law promulgated on December 31, 1901.
The newly discovered work had been discovered by Marc Labarbe, an auctioneer from Toulouse, and estimated at €30,000 to €50,000.
Given the role of Gustave Le Gray in the advent of photography and its use as a medium of modern political communication, (having been the founder of the French Society of Photography and the official photographer of the imperial family), it is not insignificant that the quality of his paintings, and in particular this portrait, was able to capture the curators of the greatest institutions. Indeed, although he exhibited several times at the Salons of Paris and even produced a portrait of Empress Eugenie, works by him remain incredibly rare.
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This portrait, made in 1843, represents Palmira Madeleine Gertrude Leonardi, whom he met and married in Rome in May 1844. Six children were born of this union, four of whom died prematurely. Palmira herself disappeared mysteriously without a trace after her artist husband fled to the East in debt. The beauty of this Italian woman with a tragic destiny is captured here with rare intensity. Exhibited at the Salon of 1853 under the title of Portrait of Madame GL, this oil on canvas remained hidden in the inheritance of the artist's descendants until today. Before its discovery, it had never been publicized.
