真理 勒菲弗尔
真理 1870年 朱尔斯·勒菲弗尔 法国 265cm×112cm 布 油彩 巴黎奥赛博物馆藏
这是具有象征意义的构思。画家以浪漫主义绘画的手法，描绘了身材修长的窈窕少女，少女纯净的眼睛凝视前方，体态匀称，曲线流畅，富于青春活力。无疑，美丽的裸体少女是真理的象征。她一手高举着“光明”，一手紧握一根绳索，形象地说明了真理既复杂又单纯。朱尔斯·勒菲弗尔简介：
Jules JosephLefebvre (1834-1912年)。A reviewer at the 1881 Paris Salon wrote thefollowing about Jules-Joseph Lefèbvre: “It is sufficient to justmention his name in order to immediately evoke the memory and theimage of the thousand adorable creatures of which he is thefather.... Jules Lefèbvre, better than anyone else caresses, with abrush both delicate and sure, the undulating contour of thefeminine form.”[1] Like a typical academic artist, Lefèbvre startedhis career with the traditional subject matter of histories andother narratives. It would not be till later in his career that hewould focus exclusively on the human figure in portraiture andespecially the female nude, with great ability and success.Lefèbvre was born on March 14th, 1836. Though his father was only abaker, he nonetheless encouraged his son to pursue painting,sending him to study in Paris in 1852. There, Lefèbvre became apupil of Léon Cogniet and a year later started attending the écoledes Beaux Arts. His debut at the Paris Salon was in 1855. He thenspent the next few years pursuing the coveted Prix de Rome (themain competition for young painters, which would win him five yearsof study in Rome and a reputation that would all but guarantee asuccessful career). In 1859 he came close, placing second. Twoyears later the history painting The Death of Priam would win himfirst place. It would be during his stay in Rome that he would findhis individual artistic niche. Able to study the great Italianmasters, Lefèbvre was fascinated by the Mannerist painters,especially Andrea del Sarto. He copied his work avidly anddemonstrated Andrea’s influence in his painting Boy Painting aTragic Mask (1863)[2]. It was also during this time that hisinterest in the female nude began, painting his first in 1863.Among other works he did in Rome, he sent the narrative RomanCharity to the salon of 1864 and painted Cornelia, Mother of theGracchi in 1866. The latter narrative, however, was ill received byexperts, arousing overwhelming criticism. That same year hisparents and one of his sisters died. These negative events in bothhis personal and professional life sent him into severedepression.[2] He emerged from his depression and came back toParis with a different approach to art and a change of interest insubject matter. He apparently became disenchanted with thetraditional formulaic approach to painting, instead turning towardsmore precise rendering from life.[2] In 1868 he exhibited aReclining Nude at the Salon, which unlike his last significantwork, won him much praise.[2] Two years later, his allegory ofTruth became his first great success.[1] A beautiful young womanholds up a mirror (the conventional symbol of truth). This symbol,though, is at the very top of the painting, so, in order to get toit one’s eye has to caress the sensuous feminine curves over thelength of the outstretched figure. Shortly after the success ofthis nude, he was made an officer in the Legion of Honor. Whatfollowed in the decades to come were variations on Truth. His manybeautiful nudes took the roles of Mary Magdalene (1876), Pandora(1877), Diana (1879), Psyche (1883), and Aurora among others. Hisnudes became so famous that his only rival was considered to beBouguereau. Unlike Bouguereau’s figures though, Lefébvre used agreater variety of models, which can be seen in his work. It is notsurprising then that he exhibited seventy-two portraits at theParis Salon from 1855 to 1898. Most, of course, are of women. Amongthose who sat for him include his daughter Yvonne, the ImperialPrince in 1874, and the novelist Alexandre Dumas (1869), who alsoseems to have admired his nudes, purchasing a Femme Nue in 1892. Inthe 1870’s he became a teacher at the Academie Julien (an atelierthat trained women artists as well as men over a decade before theywere also permitted into L’école des Beaux Arts). There he is saidto have insisted to his students on absolute precision in lifedraw.
