Watching the Punch and Judy Show

TIMOLEON MARIE LOBRICHON

Cornod 1831-1914 Paris

Ref: CA 106

Devant Guignol or Watching the Punch and Judy Show

Signed centre left: T Lobrichon

Oil on canvas: 22 ¾ x 38 3/8 in / 57.8 x 97.5 cm

Frame size: 29 ½ x 45 in / 74.9 x 114.3 cm

Painted circa 1880

Provenance:

Sir Joseph Cocksey Lee (1832-1894)

Phillips London, 19th June 1990, lot 73;

Richard Green, London;

private collection, Europe, 15th June 1992, acquired from the above

Exhibited:

Paris, Salon, Exposition des Beaux-Arts, 1880, no.2347

Manchester, The Royal Manchester Institution, Exhibition of the Works of Modern Artists, Autumn 1880, no.169

London, Royal London Panorama, Le Salon à Londres: An exhibition of foreign works of art in the galleries attached to the Royal London Panorama, Leicester Square, 1881, no.6, as Punch and Judy (Devant Guignol)

Literature:

The Manchester Evening News, 14th September 1880, p.4

I’illustration, 18th December 1880, Vol. LXXVI, no.1973, p.399 engraved by Pannemaker

Galerie Contemporaine, published by Ludovic Baschet, printed by Goupil & Cie

Henri Olleris, Mémento du Salon de Peinture, de gravure et de sculpture en 1880 indignant les oeuvres les plus remarquables exposes au Palais de l’Industrie, Libres des Bibliophiles, Paris, 1880

The Artist and Journal of Home Culture, vol.1, January-December 1880, p.360

The Morning Post, ‘SALON A LONDRE’, 13th June 1881, p.3

The Manchester Courier, 13th June 1881, p.5

The Era, 18th June 1881, p.14

The Graphic, An Illustrated Weekly Newspaper, 17th September 1881, no.616, XXIV, p.294, engraving illus. as At a French Puppet-show[1]

Eugene Montrosier, Les Artistes Modernes, Premiere Partie, Les Peintres de Genre, Goupil & Cie, Librairie Artistique, Paris, 1881, p.7

Earl Shinn, Etudes in Modern French Art, 1882, p.85

The Art Amateur, ‘A Painter of Children’, vol.18, no.1, Dec 1887, p.8

‘Children are the eternal models of M Lobrichon. He paints them with love. There is no scene from childhood that his spiritual brush has not reproduced. This time he leads us in front of Guignol. Polichinelle is on stage and thrashes the superintendent. It is ecstasy, joy, compassion, fear and admiration in all these little faces awakened by the magical spectacle.’

Timoléon Lobrichon was a French nineteenth century painter and illustrator best known for his adorable depictions of children. Born in 1831 in Cornod, he studied with the painter François-Édouard Picot at the Académie des Beaux Arts in Paris. He made his debut at the Salon in 1859 and won a medal in 1868. He was awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d’honneur in 1882.

Sir Joseph Cocksey Lee (1832-1894) of Parkgate, Altrincham, was a Manchester merchant and later magnate, working with his brother Henry Lee in the management of Tootal, Broadhurst & Lee, a textile spinning and manufacturing company. He later became Deputy Chairman of the board of directors of the Manchester Ship Canal and in 1887 was Chairman of the Jubilee Exhibition in Manchester. He was knighted in 1882 for his services in connection with the negotiations of the trade treaty with France.

[1] “At a French Puppet Show” This is the type of picture which, if skillfully executed, always commands special admiration. There is something peculiarly interesting in being brought face to face with a number of countenances, all varying in character and expression, who are eagerly looking at something which we cannot see, but yet can imagine…It may be observed that the puppet show is a more frequent and a higher kind of entertainment in France than in England.’