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Description: signed Gustave Moreau l.l. watercolour on paper

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Dimensions: 27.5 by 23.5cm., 10¾ by 9¼in.

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Provenance: Charles Hayem (one of ten watercolours bought directly from the artist on 10 June 1882)
Mme Esnault-Pelterie
Galerie Bernheim Jeune et fils, Paris (no. 15845)
Baron de Turckheim
Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 28 May 1910, lot 66
Louis Mante
Sale: Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 28 November 1956, lot 12, as Roger délivrant Angélique
Maurice Rheims, Paris

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Published: Pauline Moreau (mother of the artist), personal ledger, no. 3 (Musée Gustave Moreau, Paris, Archives)
Gustave Moreau, Notebook (red) (Musée Gustave Moreau, Paris, Archives, no. GM 500), p. 73, no. 23
Alfred Baillehache, Nouveau catalogue de l'oeuvre de Gustave Moreau remis à jour en 1915, Paris, 1915, no. 206 as Persée et Andromède or Andromède
Paul Leprieur, Gustave Moreau et son oeuvre, Paris, 1889, pp. 45-46
Apollo (Russian edition), 1911, no. 4, pp. 23-29, illustrated
Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau, sa vie, son oeuvre. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre achevé, Fribourg, 1976, no. 282, p. 339, illustrated
Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau: monographie et nouveau catalogue de l'oeuvre achevé, Courbevoie, 1998, p. 376, no. 315, illustrated

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Notes: Persée et Andromède was executed in 1882 and is part of a series of exquisitely rendered female nudes executed between 1880 and 1885. The work encapsulates the qualities of his finest watercolours: vibrant, sumptuous colours applied in an almost cloisonné technique, masterly use of the brush, delicacy of execution and fine detail. Moreau used watercolour as a medium to explore the potential of colour. The striking colour harmonies in Persée et Andromède, and in particular the juxtaposition of Andromeda's yellow drape with the azure sea, lend this work a striking freshness. Gustave Moreau's oeuvre reflected his love of mythological subjects. Steeped in classical culture from an early age, Moreau used his extensive knowledge of Greek and Roman myth to create a rich visual language that is both archaic and modern. The story of Perseus and Andromeda, the original version of George and the dragon, is one of the most enduring of all Greek myths. Its heroine is beautiful Andromeda, the daughter of King Cepheus of Ethiopia and the vain Queen Cassiopeia. The blameless Andromeda came to be chained to a rock to atone for the sins of her mother. As Andromeda stood on the wave-lashed cliffs Perseus passed by, fresh from his exploit of beheading Medusa the Gorgon (see following lot by Böcklin). His heart was captivated by the sight of the frail beauty in distress below, and he came to her rescue by slaying the dragon sent by Poseidon to devour her.

Ovid describes how 'bounding, upwards the brave Perseus sprung / And in mid air on hov'ring pinions hung.' It is this precise moment, with Perseus hovering in mid-air before attacking the sea monster, which Moreau has chosen to illustrate here. The theme of Perseus and Andromeda was the subject of a number of different studies and versions, of which the present work is the most highly finished.

Charles Hayem (1839-1902), who commissioned the present watercolour, was introduced to Moreau's work by the painter Jules-Elie Delaunay. He purchased a number of works through dealers before writing to the artist in 1873. After 1876 he bought a growing number of works directly from Moreau, and became a fierce rival of Moreau's other patron, Antoni Roux. Following Moreau's death, Hayem gifted a number of works to the Musée du Luxembourg (now incorporated into the collection of the Musée d'Orsay), including the important watercolours L'Apparition (shown at the Salon of 1876) and Phaeton (from the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878). The present work was amongst watercolours by the artist that he kept in his collection, but which were gradually dispersed by his widow.

The present work is sold in its original frame (see opposite), designed by Moreau and made by the Parisian framer, Guay. The columns and entablatures, and the colours (gilt with red highlights) are in keeping with Moreau's taste for Italianate settings. A contemporaneous watercolour, Le soir et la douleur, now in the collection of the Fondation Ephrussi de Rothschild in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, has a very similar frame. The same gilded mount is also used for a landscape, Ruines de Rome: le Colisée, displayed by Moreau in his reception room (now Musée Gustave Moreau, Paris).