User:Makaylahickey/The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis

The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis is a painting of 1818 by Jacques-Louis David, now in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Painted during his exile in Brussels, the painting was commissioned by an unknown art enthusiast and purchased by Count von Schonborn while David was in the midst of its completion. It depicts Telemachus and Eucharis, two characters in François Fénelon's 1699 novel Les Aventures de Télémaque, inspired by Homer's Odyssey. The artist's last painting of a couple from mythology, it is a pendant painting to his Love and Psyche.

Background
Though it is unsure who originally commissioned The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis, it is believed that an unknown patron asked David to create a work featuring the famous mythological scene. David began completing the painting after his 1816 exile to Brussels that occurred as a result of the Bourbon return to the French throne. He spent the rest of his life in Brussels where he continued his artistic endeavors. At some point between David's commencement of the painting in 1817 and early 1818, Count von Schonborn heard about the project. He visited David's new studio in Brussels to begin negotiations about a price point. After it was decided that Schonborn would be the owner of this work, an announcement was made in L'Oracle, a Brussels newspaper. It read as follows: "Ce tableau est destiné à un grand seigneur de la Bavière, pour qui il a été fait (This painting is destined for a great lord from Bavaria for whom it was made)." The statement clarified that a prominent figure would own this incredible work while maintaining the Count's anonymity.

To ensure that his figures would appear as lifelike as possible, David based both Telemachus and Eucharis on live models. Though the scene is based on Les Aventures de Télémaque, the painting does not depict a particular event from the story and instead was created to capture the "courtly and heartfelt affection" between the two lovers. The image also depicts a dog gazing upward at Telemachus which draws the viewers' attention to this figure. After close inspection, viewers can identify the longing and genuine sorrow that Telemachus is grappling with as he must part with Eucharis. This seemingly simplistic depiction of two literary characters is "an allegory for life's journey" that focuses not only on Telemachus' yearning but Eucharis' longing for a better understanding of self.

Exhibition
It was declared far before David completed The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis that it would be purchased by a prominent figure (Count von Schonborn). The painting did not, however, immediately arrive in the Count's personal collection and was instead displayed at various charity benefits.

The painting was first displayed to the public at the Société Royale des Beaux-Arts et de Littérature de Gand in June of 1818. The exhibition was intended to last for only about a week, but Pierre-Guillaume-Jean van Huffel, president of Ghent academy where the painting was on display, asked David for permission to extend the showing. The painting remained in Ghent until June 20. From June 23 to July 12, the painting was displayed in the Musée de Bruxelles as part of a charity event to benefit hospices. The painting was never displayed in Paris like many of David's other works, but the exhibitions in Ghent and Brussels received incredibly positive feedback from art critics. Odevaere revered David's "brilliance" and "subtlety of color" which made the work appear as "a work of nature".

Versions
After the completion of David's original painting in 1818, a replica was created in 1822 by Sophie Frémiet. Frémiet, a student of David's, worked on this second version of The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis under the original artist's instruction. Frémiet went on to create repetitions of various other works that David painted during his exile in Brussels and studied his work closely as she began establishing herself as an independent artist. Frémiet's replica of The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis was purchased in 1822 by Didot, a French publisher. It was then displayed at the 1846 Exposition du Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle in Paris while David's original work was in Germany.

Style
Like many of David's other works, The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis is a product of neoclassicism. The clarity of the figures, classical subject matter, and bold touches of color exemplify the neoclassical tradition. Uncharacteristic of other neoclassical works, however, was the usage of Kniestück. The abrupt cropping technique set David's work apart from other artists and earned him both criticism and praise. German writer Georg Christian Braun argued that David's unconventional cropping was "ill-suited for historical compositions". More recent commentary on David's stylistic approach has categorized him as a "proto-Romantic painter of sentiment". Though The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis falls more recognizably into the category of neoclassical art, its portrayal of complex emotions is in line with aspects of the romantic tradition.