Leon, Baron Frederic

107 FREDERIC LEON (BARON) (1856 - 1940) "Le blé" (#6). Houtskooltek. Fusain/papier. .Get. Sig.. .1888 115 x 100 cm Zie Boek.Voir Livre : Catalogus Léon Frédéric door/par Tredeux Georges, n° 207 Expo : "Léon Frédéric", Palais des Beaux Arts, Bruxelles, 1948; "Retrospectieve Léon Frédéric", Hotel Charlier, 1973

Léon Frederic (1856-1940) Landscape with a roadway and farm buildings; and A mountainlandscape both signed 'Léon Frederic' (lower right) oil on canvas laid down on panel each 11 x 17¼ in. (28 x 43.8 cm.) both with Racconigi paper label to the reverse a pair (2) Provenance Castello di Racconigi, Turin

Léon-Henri-Marie Frédéric (Belgian, 1856-1940) 'L'Aurore' or 'L'Aube arrachant les Ténèbres' signed 'Léon Frédéric' (lower right) oil on canvas 64 x 35 in. (162.6 x 88.9 cm.) Provenance Von Blykaert Collection, Munich. Literature G. Frédéric, Léon Frédéric, 1969, p. 77 Exhibited Munich, Glaspalast, VI Internationale Kunstausstellung, 1892,no. 573. Brussels, L'Exposition des Vingts, 1893, no. 2. Lot Notes Frédéric's works from the early 1890's concentrated almostexclusively on symbolist subjects, such as L'Aurore. His paintingswere praised by Fernand Khnopff in The Studio and published inforeign journals such as the Austrian Ver Sacrum. Thus the artistbecame internationally known and his work was exhibited in Paris,Venice and Munich. Such visionary canvases as the present workcombine Symbolism with a blend of Realism and Neo-Classicism, andhis pantheistic view of nature created a unique treatment oftraditional iconography. Aurora, the Greek goddess of dawn andsister of the sun-god Helios, stands draped by a black veil,contrasting with the traditional treatment of the subject,scattering flowers from a four-horse chariot. Frédéric entered the studio of the Neo-Classicist Jean-FrançoisPortaels in the Brussels Academy. The influence of fifteenth andsixteenth century Flemish painting is already apparent in his workand his linear technique is reinforced by his stay in Italy from1877-80, where he particularly studied the works of Botticelli andGhirlandaio. On his return to Brussels, he became a member of thegroup L'Essor. His work of the next decade gradually became imbuedwith a religious mood and its visionary nature derived from theinfluence of the Pre-Raphaelites. Despite receiving a gold medal inBerlin in 1891 and several bronze and gold medals from 1889 to 1900in the United States, the success of the 1890s only receivedofficial approval in Belgium during this century. He was createdBaron and Knight of the order of King Leopold and in 1929 wasfinally elected as a member of the Belgian Royal Academy.