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Artist or Maker: Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (Lyon 1824-1898 Paris)

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Provenance: The artist's studio stamp (L. 2104) with the notary's inscription 'Côte 9 e 196 e pièce D'

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Notes: A study for the standing man on the right of L'enfance de Sainte Geneviève, painted for the Church of Saint Geneviève in Paris, now the Pantheon, in 1874-76 (A. Brown Price, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, exhib. cat., Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, 1994, pp. 147-152). The painting, measuring 15 ft. 2 in. x 7 ft. 3 in., was shown at the Salon of 1876 and installed in the church the year after.
The church, built by Soufflot, was deconsecrated during the revolution, but was returned to its original role by Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte. The building remained a church until 1885. In 1874 the then Directeur des Beaux-Arts Philippe de Chennevières commissioned forty murals, depicting important religious figures in French history. Puvis was asked to paint the story of Saint Geneviève, in three panels, exhibited at the Salon between 1876 and 1878. The nude figure appears half draped in the final composition.