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Le Jardin d'Armide (‘The Garden of Armida’) - A Rare Wallpaper Panel Designed By Édouard Muller (1823 - 1876) and Manufactured By Jules Desfossé.
Woodblock hand printed and polychrome painted paper panel of five strips mounted on canvas (restorations; hand painting concealing paper joins; over-painting; traces of old varnish).
France, Circa 1854-70.
The wallpaper manufacturer Jules Desfossé expressly sought to elevate his craft by associating his industrial productions with illustrious names from the fine arts. His best known collaboration was with the French painter and designer Édouard Muller (1823-1876) whose most famous creation for Desfossé is ‘The Garden of Armida’ (1854). It was presented at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1855 and stimulated new trends in the art of panoramas.
Muller conceived of ‘The Garden of Armida’ as three tableaux framed by a border and surmounted by a frieze of putti. The central panel of the triptych has a statue of Flora and the flanking panels have flower filled basins hung from chains.
Examples of the central scene, with statues of Flora, are in the The Musée d’Orsay (Inventory Number NV 22632 2) and Philadelphia Museum of Art (Accession Number: 1988-57-1a—e). The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, holds in its collection one flanking panel of a flower filled basin (1953-158-4) and a dado paper fragment (1955-12-5-a/c). ‘The Garden of Armida’ was produced in quantity, although surviving examples are rare and vary in date. A set in Musée des Arts Décoratifs was a gift of the manufacturer in 1882 (MAD inv.22632, 29810 et 52443). The central panel in the Philadelphia Museum of Art has a more recent feel, and may very well be traceable to A. L. Diament & Co. who were based in Philadelphia as sole American Agents for Desfosse & Karth and list ‘The Armida Gardens’ as being ‘now reprinted from the original hand blocks’ in their portfolio of circa 1910.
The present scene is a variation without the statue of Flora and with subtle differences to the design of the architectural balustrade which, in the versions with Flora, has a central socle supporting the statue. These variations indicate that the present panel was likely made as part of a larger set decorating a room from which the statue of Flora was omitted for compositional purposes. The mounting on canvas and the extensive pinholes to the outer edge suggest it was hung within a boiserie panel.
‘The Garden of Armida’ title is derived from a location in the 16th-century Italian epic poem 'Jerusalem Delivered' by Torquato Tasso. Many painters and composers were inspired by Tasso's tale which recounts the mythic exploits of the knight Rinaldo in the First Crusade. Rinaldo falls under the spell of a sorceress named Armida in garden of otherworldly paradise. Édouard Muller arranges the garden as a theatrical trompe l’oeil, the exuberant flowers, colonnades and trellises capture the conservatories, winter gardens and verandas so fashionable in Second Empire Paris. Upon its unveiling at the 1855 Paris Exhibition, ‘The Garden of Armida’ earned Jules Desfossé a first glass medal.
Literature:
The Second Empire 1852-1870, Art in France under Napoleon III, Exhibition Catalogue, Philadephia Musuem of Art/Detroit Institute of Arts/ Grand Palais, Paris, 1978. No. II-16, pp. 92-93 and cover illustration.
Dimensions
Height : 276 cm 109 inches Width : 332 cm 131 inchesStock number
B77491The BADA Standard
- Since 1918, BADA has been the leading association for the antiques and fine art trade
- Members are elected for their knowledge, integrity and quality of stock
- Our clients are protected by BADA’s code of conduct
- Our dealers’ membership is reviewed and renewed annually
- Bada.org is a non-profit site: clients deal directly with members and they pay no hidden fees