Catalogue entry

FWN 598
Le Christ aux limbes
c.1869
Alternate titles: Christ; Christ in Limbo; Christus in der Vorhölle, Wanddekoration im Jas de Bouffan; Christus und Magdalena; La descente aux limbes; La Ressurection de Lazare; Lazare; Le Christ; Raising of Lazarus; Résurrection de Lazare; Wandbild in Jas de Bouffan
Rewald (145): c.1869; Venturi revised: c.1867; Venturi (84): 1864–68; Rivière: c.1867–68; Cooper: 1865–66; Gowing: 1867 or 1868 (Burlington) and c.1867 (London); Ratcliffe: 1869 or later
Mural transferred to canvas
66 7/8 x 38 3/16 in. (170 x 97 cm)
Musée d'Orsay, Paris (accepted by the French government in lieu of Inheritance Tax, 2005) (RF 2005 3)

Keywords

Provenance
Jas de Bouffan, Aix-en-Provence
Louis Granel, Aix-en-Provence
Jos. Hessel, Paris
Auguste Pellerin, Paris;
M. et Mme René Lecomte, Paris;
Private collection;
Musée d'Orsay, Paris (2005)
Exhibition History
1936c Paris
Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, Cézanne, May 20–October 11, 1936, no. 7, as Le Christ aux limbes, lent by M/M Lecomte; shown for the first time.
1954 Paris
Orangerie, Paris, Hommage à Cézanne, July 2–October 17, 1954, no. 11, lent by private collection, Paris.
1988–89a London and traveling
Royal Academy of Arts, London, Cézanne: The Early Years 1859–1872, April 22–August 21, 1988, no. 32, ill. with a photograph of Le Christ aux limbes et la Madeleine before the painting was cut; see also p. 13 (p. 25 French ed.) fig. 10. Traveled to: Musée d'Orsay, Cézanne: les années de jeunesse 1859-1872, Paris, September 19, 1988–January 1, 1989; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., January 29–April 30, 1989.
2022 Paris
Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, Le décor impressionniste: aux sources des nymphéas, March 2–July 11, 2022, no. 30, ill., p. 62.
Published References
Denis 1912
Denis, Maurice. Théories, 1890–1910, du symbolisme et de Gauguin vers un nouvel ordre classique. Paris: Bibliothèque de l'Occident, 1912, pp. 239–40.
Burger 1913
Burger, Fritz. Cézanne und Hodler. Munich: Delphin Verlag, 1913, pl. 186, as Christus und Magdalena, JW: Ill. larger than v. (includes v. 86).
Le Curieux 1918
Le Curieux. "Quatre panneaux décoratifs de Cézanne." La Renaissance de l'art français et des industries de luxe (Paris), vol. 1, no. 2 (April 1918), p. 34, as Christ.
Burger 1919
Burger, Fritz. Cézanne und Hodler. Munich: Delphin Verlag, 1919, p. 188.
Coquiot 1919
Coquiot, Gustave. Paul Cézanne. Paris: Ollendorf, 1919, pp. 41, 214, as Christ ressuscitant Lazare.
Burger 1920
Burger, Fritz. Cézanne und Hodler. Munich: Delphin Verlag, 1920, pl. 188.
Vollard 1921
Vollard, Ambroise. Paul Cézanne. Munich: Kurt Wolfe Verlag, 1921, ill. opp. p. 22, as Christus in der Vorhölle, Wanddekoration im Jas de Bouffan, dated circa 1863.
Gasquet 1921b
Gasquet, Joachim. Cézanne. Paris: Les Editions Bernheim-Jeune, 1921, p. 104, pl. p. 104, as Le Christ.
Meier-Graefe 1922
Meier-Graefe, Julius. Cézanne und sein Kreis: ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte: mit 171 Tonätzungen und einem Lichtdruck. Munich: R. Piper, 1922, ill. p. 99, as Wandbild in Jas de Bouffan, c. 1868 (illustration includes part of La Douleur).
Burger 1923
Burger, Fritz. Cézanne und Hodler. Munich: Delphin Verlag, 1923, pl. 186.
Rivière 1923
Rivière, Georges. Le Maître Paul Cézanne. Paris: Librairie Floury, 1923, p. 197, listed, ill. opp. p. 6, and detail p. 165, as La Ressurection de Lazare, dated c. 1867–68,.
Fry 1926
Fry, Roger. "Le développement de Cézanne." L'Amour de l'art 7, no. 12 (December 1926), ill. p. 390, as Lazare.
Gasquet 1926
Gasquet, Joachim. Cézanne. Paris: Les Editions Bernheim-Jeune, 1926, p. 172, pl. [32] hors texte, as Le Christ.
Pfister 1927
Pfister, Kurt. Cézanne: Gestalt, Werk, Mythos. Potsdam: Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1927, fig. 15, as Christus in der Vorhölle, Wanddekoration im Jas de Bouffan, c. 1863.
Fry 1927a
Fry, Roger. Cézanne: A Study of His Development. New York: Macmillan, 1927, pp. 14 and 26, fig. 1, pl. I.
Fry 1929
Fry, Roger. "Cézannes Udvikling." Samleren 6 (July, August, September 1929), p. 102, ill.
Sterling 1936
Sterling, Charles. "Cézanne et les maîtres d'autrefois." La Renaissance (Paris), vol. 19, nos. 5-6 (May–June 1936), p. 7, as Le Christ aux limbes.
Venturi 1936b
Venturi, Lionello. Cézanne: Son Art, Son Oeuvre. Paris: Editions Paul Rosenberg, 1936, no. 84, ill. vol. II, as Le Christ aux limbes.
Rewald 1936c
Rewald, John. "Sources d'inspiration de Cézanne." L'Amour de l'art 17, no. 5 (May 1936), fig. 92 p. 191, as La descente aux limbes, c.1868 (with Sebastiano del Piombo's La descente aux limbes, fig. 91).
Huyghe 1936d
Huyghe, René. Cézanne. Paris: Plon, Éditions d'Art et d'Histoire, 1936, pl. 13.
Rewald 1936e
Rewald, John. Cézanne et Zola. Paris: Editions A. Sedrowski, 1936, fig. 92.
Novotny 1937
Novotny, Fritz. Cézanne. Vienna: Phaidon, 1937, pl. 1.
Barnes and de Mazia 1939
Barnes, Albert C., and Violette de Mazia. The Art of Cézanne. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1939, no. 11, ill. p. 153 (analysis p. 311).
Novotny 1947
Novotny, Fritz. Cézanne. London: Phaidon Press, 1947, pl. 1, as Le Christ aux limbes, 1864-68.
Dorival 1948
Dorival, Bernard. Cézanne. Paris: Pierre Tisné, 1948, pl. III, listed p. 175.
Malraux 1951
Malraux, André. Les Voix du silence. Paris: NRF, 1951, pp. 576–77, ill.
Fry 1952
Fry, Roger. Cézanne: A Study of his Developement. London: Hogarth Press, 1952, p. 14, pl. I fig. 1, as Raising of Lazarus.
Williams 1954
Williams, Forest. "Cézanne and French Phenomenology." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 12, no. 4 (June 1954), p. 482.
Cooper 1955a
Cooper, Douglas. "Au Jas de Bouffan." L'Oeil 2 (February 15, 1955), pp. 16, 46.
Berthold 1958
Berthold, Gertrude. Cézanne und die alten Meister. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1958, listed p. 154.
Beucken 1962
Beucken, Jean de. Cézanne. New York: Viking Press, 1962, p. 26, ill.
Schapiro 1973
Schapiro, Meyer. Paul Cézanne. Translated by Louis-Marie Ollivier. Paris: Nouvelles Editions Françaises, 1973, p. 11, ill.
Lewis 1981
Lewis, Mary Tompkins. "Cézanne's 'Harrowing of Hell and the Magdalen.'" Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 98, periode 6 (April 1981), pp. 175–78, fig. 1 (photograph of the entire mural before division).
Reff 1983
Reff, Theodore. "Cézanne: The Severed Head and the Skull." Arts Magazine 58, no. 2 (October 1983), p. 94, fig. 12.
Coutagne 1984
Coutagne, Denis. "Le retour de l'enfant prodigue." In Cézanne au Musée d'Aix. Aix-en-Provence: Musée Granet, 1984, p. 116, photograph of the painting hanging in the salon at Jas de Bouffan.
Lewis 1989
Lewis, Mary Tompkins. Cézanne's Early Imagery. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989, pp. 47–62, fig. 19.
Verdi 1992
Verdi, Richard. Cézanne. London and New York: Thames & Hudson, 1992, p. 30, fig. 17.
Cachin and Rishel 1995
Cachin, Françoise, and Joseph Rishel. Cézanne. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1995. Exhibition catalogue, p. 99, fig. 1.
Rewald 1996
Rewald, John. The Paintings of Paul Cézanne, A Catalogue Raisonné, 2 vols. In Collaboration with Walter Feilchenfeldt and Jayne Warman. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996, no. 145, ill. vol. 2 and p. 26, ill. col. vol. 1, as Le Christ aux limbes.
Coutagne 1997
Coutagne, Denis. "Approche contradictoire d'un thème: Le Jas de Bouffan chez Cézanne." In Cézanne aujourd'hui. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1997, pp. 80-81, fig. 28 (photograph of the entire mural before division).
Athanassoglou-Kallmyer 2003
Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Nina M. Cézanne and Provence: The Painter in His Culture. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2003, p. 69, fig. 2.17, as Le Christ aux limbes, with La Madeleine.
Lewis 2004
Lewis, Mary Tompkins. "Cézanne's Paintings in the Grand Salon at Jas de Bouffan." In Jas de Bouffan: Cézanne, Société Paul Cézanne. Aix-en-Provence: Hexagone, 2004, fig. 72, ill. in color.
Dittmann 2005
Dittmann, Lorenz. Die Kunst Cézannes: Farbe, Rythmus, Symbolik. Cologne: Böhlau, 2005, p. 144, ill. in b/w.
Tosini 2005
Tosini, Aurora Scotti. "Paul Cézanne (1839–1906)." In Cézanne, Renoir. Milan: Skira, 2005. Exhibition catalogue, p. 48, ill.
Lobstein 2007
Lobstein, Dominique. "Acquisition: Paul Cézanne, Le Christ aux limbes." 48/14 La Revue du musée d'Orsay, no. 24 (Spring 2007), pp. 44-45, as Le Christ aux limbes, 1967-69.
Coutagne 2011d
Coutagne, Denis. Cézanne abstraction faite. Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 2011, p. 164, fig. 107.
Kovács 2012
Kovács, Anna Zsófia. "Cézanne's Use of Reproductive Prints." In Cézanne and the Past: Tradition and Creativity. Budapest: Museum of Fine Arts, 2012. Exhibition catalogue, p. 135, fig. 77, as Christ in Limbo.
Nagaï 2016
Nagaï, Takanori. "Cézanne and Jas de Bouffan." In Le "basho" dans l'art moderne français. Tokyo: Sangensha, 2016, p. 114, ill.
Société Paul Cezanne 2019
Cezanne, Jas de Bouffan: art et histoire. Under the scientific direction of Denis Coutagne and François Chédeville. Lyon; Aix-en-Provence: Fage édition; Société Paul Cezanne, 2019, fig. 108 p. 123, (fig. 106 photo of mural before division p. 122) (fig. 227 digital reconstitution of the Jas de Bouffan's Grand Salon after 1867 p. 243).
Notes

Copy of an engraving after Sebastiano del Piombo's Christ’s Descent into Limbo (1516) in the Prado (once attributed to Juan Fernandez de Navarrete). The engraving was published by Charles Blanc in 1869 https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k851375b/f65.item, hence the date of the painting.

Note that the illustration in Julius Meier-Graefe's 1922 edition of Cézanne und sein Kreis shows a portion of La Madeleine La Douleur; La Madeleine, c.1869 (599), which was part of the mural painted on the wall of the Jas de Bouffan.

Le Christ aux limbes, c.1869 (FWN 598). Sebastiano del Piombo, Christ’s Descent into Limbo, 1516, oil on canvas, Museum del Prado, Madrid.
Sebastiano del Piombo, Christ’s Descent into Limbo, 1516, oil on canvas, Museum del Prado, Madrid.
Le Christ aux limbes, c.1869 (FWN 598). image from Cézanne und sein Kreis, 1922
image from Cézanne und sein Kreis, 1922
Le Christ aux limbes, c.1869 (FWN 598). Interior of the salon of the Jas de Bouffan in 1912. John Rewald Archive, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Interior of the salon of the Jas de Bouffan in 1912. John Rewald Archive, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Related

Record last updated September 7, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Société Paul Cezanne. "Le Christ aux limbes, c.1869 (FWN 598), Mural transferred to canvas." In The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné. www.cezannecatalogue.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=154 (accessed on April 23, 2024).