The Ernest and Rosemarie Kanzler Foundation

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting has been recently restored and should be hung in its current condition. The canvas is lined and the paint layer is stable and clean. There is no abrasion to the very complex and skillful paint layer. There is a restoration in the back and shoulder of the woman furthest to the right, yet throughout the remainder of the picture there appear to be no restorations. The painting is in lovely condition.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Like many Salon lu🍌minaries🍌 of the nineteenth century, Georges-Antoine Rochegrosse suffered a spectacular fall from grace in the twentieth.  Recently, however, as both academic art and Orientalism regain their former status, his paintings have received renewed attention from scholars and collectors alike. 

Rochegrosse's grandes machines - vast didactic canvases in which high drama and archaeological detail meet in innovative, often violent compositions - reflect both his early training at the Académie Julien and the profound impact of Delacroix's Orientalist scenes. (Rochegrosse's interests in Near Eastern artifacts and in ancient civilizations would lead him to travel to Egypt and North Africa; he spent the last years of his life in El Biar, where he became a leading member of Algeria's artistic community.)  His connections with the Parisian literati, however, and with the fin de siècle culture in which they indulged, encouraged a vastly different Orientalist style.  Sparkling, ethereal, and with no purpose but pleasure, The Chattering Birds is ꦉthe quintessential expression of Rochegrosse's other mode - and his social world.

The palette of this painting, reminiscent of the artist's Le Chevalier des fleurs (Musée d'Orsay, Paris), confirms Rochegrosse's commitment to contemporary tastes.  Bright cadmium reds and oranges, clear yellows, semi-transparent violets, sap greens, and a range of intense blues had only recently become available to artist💧s, replacing the costly opaque mineral pigments that had dominated the trade; these "modern" colors are evident throughout Rochegrosse's work.

The even application of these hues across the picture's surface serves to connect the women to their environment: their fluttering draperies fuse with the kaleidoscopic plumage of the little birds with which they share their home.  The affinity that this suggests - between harem woman and pet bird - has a l♚ong tradition in Orientalist art, and adds an unexpected meaning to Rochegrosse's "purely decorative" work: however lovely, these chattering birds are but the captives of their cage.

This catalogue note was w🧔ritten by Dr. Emily M. Weeks.