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Lot Essay
The son and pupil of the painter Frank Stone, Marcus was an historical genre painter and illustrator. He developed his father's friendship with Charles Dickens, who in turn came to regard him 'almost as a son.' When Frank Stone died in 1859, Dickens set about promoting Marcus's career and commissioned him to illustrate Our Mutual Friend and Great Expectations in the 1860s. Until 1874, much of his exhibited work at the Royal Academy involved depictions of scenes from history. My Lady is a Widow and Childless (Christie's, London, 19 February 2003, lot 14) was painted a year before the present work and was to prove a turning point in his career as he began depicting more contemporary scenes, though he was to find lasting fame with his depictions of romantic encounters from the Regency period, many of which were reproduced as engravings. One of the finest examples of his Regency works Il y en a toujours un autre (Royal Academy 1882) was bought for £800 by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest for the Tate Gallery, London. His themes were usually dramatic, sentimental or sometimes humorous.
The present work depicts a French soldier returning safely from battle to his beloved wife who is in bed after the birth of their child. Whilst the soldier embraces his wife others in the room try and attract his attention - their elder daughter points at her new sibling and the dog rests his paws upon the trunk to get closer to his master. Stone captures the excitement and energy of the return and also conveys in her expression the anxiety and anguish that she has experienced during his service as she searched each day in the newspaper for news of her husband, a copy of La Patrie lying on her bed. The symbolism of this newspaper and the statuary on the walls around her bed reflect the deeply patriotic and religious undertone of the work. As a contrast to these symbolic passages, in amongst the drama Stone also includes two exquisite still life scenes which are highly finished and masterful displays of his painterly style - the bowl and plates on the chair and the glass and pear to the left of the dog.
Although no specific battle or date is referred to this is most likely Stone's comment on the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Many French artists such as James-Jacques-Joseph Tissot had fled the Paris Commune of 1871 and during the 1870s London had many French refugees to whom this picture would have appealed. The Franco-Prussian War was caused by the rival pretensions for European leadership of The French Second Empire and the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation. The French declared war on 19 July but had overestimated their readiness for battle and the main French army under Marmathon surrendered on 4 September, the Emperor Napoleon III was captured, Marshal-Bazaine with another French Army capitulated at the end of October and Paris fell on 28 January 1871. Peace talks began and terms were formally accepted on 1 March 1871 and finally signed in the Treaty of Frankfurt, 10 May 1871. Napoleon III later fled France for exile in Chislehurst, Kent and died there in 1873.
When the painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1875, it was well received and the critic for the Art Journal noted, '...There is wonderful life and vigour too, in Marcus Stone's Sain et Sauf (130), which is the name he gives to a young soldier's return to his wife and child.' Two decades later, A. L. Baldry writing on 'The Life and Work of Marcus Stone, R.A.' devoted an entire paragraph to this piece commenting on the optimism of our work in contrast to the more somber theme of My Lady is a Widow and Childless which was exhibited in 1874,
' ... He touched, however, a lighter note next year in Sain et Sauf, using, instead of sorrowful regret, as a motive, the joy of a moment of meeting between a husband and wife who had scarcely hoped to see one another again. The setting for his idea was found abroad, for it was the interior of a modern French cottage that he depicted, with a soldier returning safe and sound from the wars to take up again his home-life in the bosom of his family. The story had no lack of dramatic meaning, and the vividness with which it was told was not a little helped by the complete manner in which every detail and every accessory of the mise-en-scene were studied and set down, and by the care with which subordinate interests were connected with the main plot. This completeness was, without doubt, partly owing to the fact that he took the trouble to paint actually on the spot all the chief things that he wanted for the proper filling up of his large canvas. Our illustration, on page 15, is from the original spirited sketch' (fig. 1).
(fig. 1.) Marcus Stone, Sain et Sauf, pencil sketch (untraced).
The present work depicts a French soldier returning safely from battle to his beloved wife who is in bed after the birth of their child. Whilst the soldier embraces his wife others in the room try and attract his attention - their elder daughter points at her new sibling and the dog rests his paws upon the trunk to get closer to his master. Stone captures the excitement and energy of the return and also conveys in her expression the anxiety and anguish that she has experienced during his service as she searched each day in the newspaper for news of her husband, a copy of La Patrie lying on her bed. The symbolism of this newspaper and the statuary on the walls around her bed reflect the deeply patriotic and religious undertone of the work. As a contrast to these symbolic passages, in amongst the drama Stone also includes two exquisite still life scenes which are highly finished and masterful displays of his painterly style - the bowl and plates on the chair and the glass and pear to the left of the dog.
Although no specific battle or date is referred to this is most likely Stone's comment on the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Many French artists such as James-Jacques-Joseph Tissot had fled the Paris Commune of 1871 and during the 1870s London had many French refugees to whom this picture would have appealed. The Franco-Prussian War was caused by the rival pretensions for European leadership of The French Second Empire and the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation. The French declared war on 19 July but had overestimated their readiness for battle and the main French army under Marmathon surrendered on 4 September, the Emperor Napoleon III was captured, Marshal-Bazaine with another French Army capitulated at the end of October and Paris fell on 28 January 1871. Peace talks began and terms were formally accepted on 1 March 1871 and finally signed in the Treaty of Frankfurt, 10 May 1871. Napoleon III later fled France for exile in Chislehurst, Kent and died there in 1873.
When the painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1875, it was well received and the critic for the Art Journal noted, '...There is wonderful life and vigour too, in Marcus Stone's Sain et Sauf (130), which is the name he gives to a young soldier's return to his wife and child.' Two decades later, A. L. Baldry writing on 'The Life and Work of Marcus Stone, R.A.' devoted an entire paragraph to this piece commenting on the optimism of our work in contrast to the more somber theme of My Lady is a Widow and Childless which was exhibited in 1874,
' ... He touched, however, a lighter note next year in Sain et Sauf, using, instead of sorrowful regret, as a motive, the joy of a moment of meeting between a husband and wife who had scarcely hoped to see one another again. The setting for his idea was found abroad, for it was the interior of a modern French cottage that he depicted, with a soldier returning safe and sound from the wars to take up again his home-life in the bosom of his family. The story had no lack of dramatic meaning, and the vividness with which it was told was not a little helped by the complete manner in which every detail and every accessory of the mise-en-scene were studied and set down, and by the care with which subordinate interests were connected with the main plot. This completeness was, without doubt, partly owing to the fact that he took the trouble to paint actually on the spot all the chief things that he wanted for the proper filling up of his large canvas. Our illustration, on page 15, is from the original spirited sketch' (fig. 1).
(fig. 1.) Marcus Stone, Sain et Sauf, pencil sketch (untraced).