Recueillement maternel, 1923

Maurice Denis  

Maurice DENIS 1870–1943
Maternal Contemplation (*Recueillement maternel*) – 1923
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated on the left: "MAURICE DENIS 1923"

H: 101 cm, W: 81 cm

Provenance: Acquired from the artist by Gabriel Thomas
Sale, Paris, Ader (auctioneer), Gabriel Thomas Collection, June 13, 1946, lot 65
Sale, Paris, Bellier (auctioneer), February 27, 1957, lot 65
Various private collections
Paul Lombard Collection
By descent to the current owner

Exhibitions: Paris, Galerie Druet, *Maurice Denis*, 1924, no. 21
Paris, Salon des Tuileries, no. 435
Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, *Maurice Denis*, no. 323
Paris, Galerie Barbizon, *Post-Impressionnisme*, April–May 1979

Bibliography: P. Jamot, "L'enfant dans l'oeuvre de Maurice Denis," in *L'Enfant*, 32nd year, no. 277, July–August 1925, p. 173
S. Barazzetti-Demoulin, *Maurice Denis*, Grasset, Paris, 1945, pp. 292, 293
This work will be included in the *catalogue raisonné* of Maurice Denis’s work, currently in preparation by Claire Denis.

Note: A certificate from Dominique Denis will be provided to the purchaser.
A certificate from Madeleine Follain Denis will be provided to the purchaser.

This is a portrait of Lisbeth, the painter’s second wife, with their son Baptiste—born July 19, 1923—in a room at Le Prieuré. Maurice Denis created a lithograph based on it for the album *Maîtres et Petits Maîtres d'aujourd'hui* (Maurice Denis, *Galerie des Peintres-Graveurs*, 1926; 3rd plate of the album, 280 x 199 mm; reproduced in Cailler, no. 147).
Between the sales of 1946 and 1957, the painting was trimmed—by 30 cm at the top (in the sky) and by 5 cm on the right.