Léon Ovide SCRIBE (1841-1909). - Lot 389

Léon Ovide SCRIBE (1841-1909). Young woman at her toilette, after Giovanni Bellini. High-fire enamel on rectangular terracotta plate. H_19 cm W_18 cm. Ceramic painter Léon Ovide Scribe was born in Albert, Somme, in 1814. He studied painting in Paris, where he worked as an advisor to the great painters of the day, such as Ingres and Henner. He arrived in Sologne at the age of 27, his parents having decided to settle in La Ferté-St-Cyr due to financial problems. After producing highly realistic paintings of Solognot life in his day, this kind-hearted and erudite artist turned to figurative ceramics. Ovide Scribe left his mark on the cultural history of Romorantin, where he settled in 1880 on the advice of his writer friend Paul Besnard. He became the first art teacher in the town's secondary school, and created the first municipal museum. An artist and collector of the works of his painter friends, this museum was initially made up mainly of donations from his own collection. Many of these can still be found today in the Musée Sologne collections. Initially based in rue du Grenier à Sel, near the Jacquemart tower, he ended his life in his house known as the "Guideau", on what is now rue Ovide Scribe. It was in the kiln built in the courtyard of this home that he produced his finest ceramics, several of which still adorn the façade. Fascinated by the art of the Italian Renaissance, he adopted the technique of ceramists of the period such as Luca della Robbia, known as "l'émail cru cuit à grand feu", as well as the style of great painters such as Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. His achievement was to faithfully reproduce the works of Italian Renaissance artists without ever having seen them in real life. Indeed, having never been to Italy, Scribe was passionate about the period, yet could accurately describe the monuments of Rome and Florence. He visited the Cabinet des Estampes in Paris on several occasions, certainly to find inspiration and models for his works. In a letter dated October 25, 1908 (addressed to Abel Billault), he explained that the engravings kept in this cabinet had the advantage of being "copiable in their own right". His subjects and style were so faithful to Italian Renaissance art that some unscrupulous dealers sold them to buyers believing they dated from the 16th century. On many ceramics, Ovide Scribe signed with a stylized monogram representing an encircled "S". Ovide Scribe received a number of honors during his lifetime, including the Palmes Académiques in 1893, and the Rosette d'Officier de l'Instruction Publique in 1904. He died at home on December 9, 1909, of pneumonia contracted at his kiln, while supervising one of his long ceramic firings in the cold.