Lot 300 Dα

After the experiences of 1870/1871 and presumably until his old age, Henri Rousseau celebrated an irresistible patriotism that was of a very French and Republican hue, but fed on an entirely imagined and fantastical heroism of its own. He was particularly fond of a monument installed in 1873 in front of the town hall of Vincennes - commemorating the Napoleonic general Daumesnil (1776-1832), who had been commander of the fortress there - as well as the anecdotes surrounding this very popular historical figure. The bronze monument by Louis Rochet (1813-1878) depicts the general, whose leg had been amputated, with his wooden prosthesis. Enchanted by the personality of this courageous military man who is supposed to have defied the attacking Russian troops by stating he would only turn over the town if his real leg were returned (“… dites aux Russes que je leur rendrai Vincennes quand ils me rendront ma jambe”), Rousseau, “Le Douanier”, carved his own little figure in wood after the hero's monument. And indeed, he is also supposed to have lent his own features to his “naive” copy, leading André Breton, who presented the work to the public, to make the following art-critical and surreal comment: “En pareil cas, il s'agit toujours d'autoportrait.” (cited after Yann le Pichon, op. cit. 1981, p. 229).
Copies of 19th-century French battle scenes are also known from Henri Rousseau's painted oeuvre, and he occupied himself artistically with the phenomenon of war in general. His painting “La Guerre” (c.1894, Musée d'Orsay) is a famous masterwork and an icon of naive art. “Baron Daumesnil” is the only sculptural work by Henri Rousseau. According to Yann le Pichon it may have been created in connection with a contest for the decoration of the stateroom in the town hall of Vincennes in 1898, for which Rousseau created designs for decorative paintings. The previously unknown wooden figure by the artist was found by chance in Clignancourt in 1948/1949, inserted in a separately designed wooden base (formerly collection Jorge Milchberg, Paris). Following an edition of a small number of bronze casts carried out in 1966/1967 by George Rudier, Châtillon-sous-Bagneux, the piece presented here is a posthumous cast from a contemporary edition authorised by Yann le Pichon.