All Things Die, But All Will Be Resurrected through God’s Love
Frédéric, Léon
1893 - 1918
oil on canvas
161.0 x 1100cm
Commentary
Léon Frédéric (1856-1940) was born in Brussels and studied art at the Academy in Brussels. He applied to the Prix de Rome that sent a winner to Italy to study but he was not chosen. From 1878 to the next year, he went to Italy on his own to study and was greatly influenced by the early Renaissance art.
After returning home from Italy, he participated in an art circle. Being influenced by the Naturalism and the Impressionism, he painted primarily religious paintings with which he won success. Frederic's painting characteristic is a very faithful realistic style. In the mid 1880s he often painted the lives of farmers and laborers together with rendering of beautiful nature. He expressed grand conception in triptychs and several panels, which overwhelm viewers with great power.
"All Things Die, but All Will Be Resurrected through God's Love" is a very important artwork of Frédéric, which took him 25 years to complete. Biblical stories unfold from the left to right. "The humanity invited God's wrath. They were scorched in flames and crushed into rocks, and finally died away. Then a white dove, a messenger of the God, flew in with good tidings. And all humanity revived under the God's love."
Please pay attention to details of the painting. One may realize that there are a lot of objects depicted in the painting, such as a temple, a Crucifixion, scales that weigh the good against the evil, all of which symbolize the Christianity. The painting contains so many people that is hard to count. The elaborate expression of each person must reflect Frederic's passion for this painting.
Reference:
New History of World Art Vol. 24:: Shogakukan Inc. 1996 Catalogue of Musee d'Orsay Exhibition 1999: The dreams and the reality of the 19th Century: Nihon Keizai Shinbun Inc. 1999
Anecdote
Torajiro Kojima directly visited Frédéric's Studio in 1923 to purchase this painting. It was exhibited at an exhibition at Antwerp and left a strong impression on Torajiro who went to see the exhibition.
Believing this was going to be one of the paintings that Frédéric would be remembered by, Kojima earnestly persuaded Frédéric to let him buy it while he did not want to be parted from it. And this was Kojima's last purchase in Europe. It is said that later these seven-panel painting became a determining factor for the width of the Ohara Museum of Art at the time of its construction.
It took as long as 25 years since he started to work on the first panel until he finished the last seventh panel. During the course of this time, World War I broke out, in which Frédéric lost his daughter. In the center of the right half of the painting there are five girls each wearing a corolla of flowers on their heads. It is believed that the girl in the center of these girls might be his daughter who passed away. At the left bottom corner he wrote "a nohe bien ainee fille Gabrielle (To my dear daughter, Gabrielle)" together with his signature.
It can be assumed that Frédéric wanted to depict the folly of wars and the sorrow of the victims of the wars in the left half of the painting and his wish for those victims including his daughter to revive in the land of God in the right half of the painting.
One may feel his strong indignation and deep sorrow for wars and hope for peace.
All Things Die, But All Will Be Resurrected through God’s Love
Commentary
Léon Frédéric (1856-1940) was born in Brussels and studied art at the Academy in Brussels. He applied to the Prix de Rome that sent a winner to Italy to study but he was not chosen. From 1878 to the next year, he went to Italy on his own to study and was greatly influenced by the early Renaissance art.
After returning home from Italy, he participated in an art circle. Being influenced by the Naturalism and the Impressionism, he painted primarily religious paintings with which he won success. Frederic's painting characteristic is a very faithful realistic style. In the mid 1880s he often painted the lives of farmers and laborers together with rendering of beautiful nature. He expressed grand conception in triptychs and several panels, which overwhelm viewers with great power.
"All Things Die, but All Will Be Resurrected through God's Love" is a very important artwork of Frédéric, which took him 25 years to complete. Biblical stories unfold from the left to right. "The humanity invited God's wrath. They were scorched in flames and crushed into rocks, and finally died away. Then a white dove, a messenger of the God, flew in with good tidings. And all humanity revived under the God's love."
Please pay attention to details of the painting. One may realize that there are a lot of objects depicted in the painting, such as a temple, a Crucifixion, scales that weigh the good against the evil, all of which symbolize the Christianity. The painting contains so many people that is hard to count. The elaborate expression of each person must reflect Frederic's passion for this painting.
Reference:
New History of World Art Vol. 24:: Shogakukan Inc. 1996 Catalogue of Musee d'Orsay Exhibition 1999: The dreams and the reality of the 19th Century: Nihon Keizai Shinbun Inc. 1999
Anecdote
Torajiro Kojima directly visited Frédéric's Studio in 1923 to purchase this painting. It was exhibited at an exhibition at Antwerp and left a strong impression on Torajiro who went to see the exhibition.
Believing this was going to be one of the paintings that Frédéric would be remembered by, Kojima earnestly persuaded Frédéric to let him buy it while he did not want to be parted from it. And this was Kojima's last purchase in Europe. It is said that later these seven-panel painting became a determining factor for the width of the Ohara Museum of Art at the time of its construction.
It took as long as 25 years since he started to work on the first panel until he finished the last seventh panel. During the course of this time, World War I broke out, in which Frédéric lost his daughter. In the center of the right half of the painting there are five girls each wearing a corolla of flowers on their heads. It is believed that the girl in the center of these girls might be his daughter who passed away. At the left bottom corner he wrote "a nohe bien ainee fille Gabrielle (To my dear daughter, Gabrielle)" together with his signature.
It can be assumed that Frédéric wanted to depict the folly of wars and the sorrow of the victims of the wars in the left half of the painting and his wish for those victims including his daughter to revive in the land of God in the right half of the painting.
One may feel his strong indignation and deep sorrow for wars and hope for peace.
Painting
Apple Picking
Small Table in Evening Dusk
Song of Songs (Le Cantique des Cantiques)
Haystacks
Waterlilies
Cliff of Gréville
Coutyard at the ‘Rondest House’, Pontoise
Woman Wearing a Hat with Silk Gauze
Delightful Land (Te Nave Nave Fenua)
All Things Die, But All Will Be Resurrected through God’s Love
Wave
Carriage and Pair
Three Dancers in Red Costume
Autumn Sea
Old Horse in the Wasteland
Landscape
Festival of Venis
Hair
Winter Orchard
Beethoven
Landscape of La Ferté-Milon
Annunciation