Daniel Chodowiecki - Fénelon and the Savoyard
Daniel Chodowiecki
Fénelon and the Savoyard
Pen and brush in grey. 11 x 6,5 cm.
Signed lower right: D. Chodowiecki del.
‘Fénelon and the Savoyard’ is the title of a legendary anecdote from the French Revolution. Jean-Baptiste-Augustin de Salignac-Fénelon (1714–1794), the Abbé de Fénelon, a great-nephew of the famous Archbishop François Fénelon (1651–1715), was known throughout his life for his humanity and his care for the poor, particularly the Savoyards. These were migrant labourers from Savoy who, in Paris at that time, formed the poorest underclass. Fénelon was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution.
In this exquisitely detailed scene, Chodowiecki depicts the moment when a Savoyard volunteers to take Fénelon’s place in prison.
The drawing served as the basis for an etching in the Revolutionary Almanac of 1795. There, the account begins with the sentence: ‘A Savoyard had worked his way up to become the jailer of a prison in Paris...’.
Provenance
Coll. Hebisch, Hamburg. – Kiefer, Stuttgart, 30.-31.3.2001. – Private German collection.
Daniel Chodowiecki
Fénelon and the Savoyard
Pen and brush in grey. 11 x 6,5 cm.
Signed lower right: D. Chodowiecki del.
‘Fénelon and the Savoyard’ is the title of a legendary anecdote from the French Revolution. Jean-Baptiste-Augustin de Salignac-Fénelon (1714–1794), the Abbé de Fénelon, a great-nephew of the famous Archbishop François Fénelon (1651–1715), was known throughout his life for his humanity and his care for the poor, particularly the Savoyards. These were migrant labourers from Savoy who, in Paris at that time, formed the poorest underclass. Fénelon was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution.
In this exquisitely detailed scene, Chodowiecki depicts the moment when a Savoyard volunteers to take Fénelon’s place in prison.
The drawing served as the basis for an etching in the Revolutionary Almanac of 1795. There, the account begins with the sentence: ‘A Savoyard had worked his way up to become the jailer of a prison in Paris...’.
Provenance
Coll. Hebisch, Hamburg. – Kiefer, Stuttgart, 30.-31.3.2001. – Private German collection.
