Bibliography
Anne de Herdt, « Jean-Pierre Saint-Ours (1752-1809). Une esquisse dessinée pour les Mariages germains », in Bericht über die Tätigkeit der Eidgenossischen Kommission des Gottfried Keller-Stiftung 1997 bis 2000, 2001 : 17-20.
Peter Wegmann (ed.), L’esprit d’une collection. De Caspar David Friedrich à Ferdinand Hodler. Fondation Oskar Reinhart, Winterthour, exh. cat. Geneva, Musée Rath, Frankfurt am Main/Leipzig, Insel Verlag, 1994, n. 12.
Jean-Pierre Saint-Ours, born in Geneva and trained in Paris, was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1780. However, as a Swiss Protestant, he was not allowed to join the city’s French Academy and spent the next twelve years working as an independent artist instead.
He devoted his time in Rome to three monumental paintings, Le Choix des enfants de Sparte (The Selection of Children in Sparta) (1785-1786) after Plutarch (Geneva, Musée d’art et d’histoire), Les Mariages germains (The Germanic Wedding) (1786-1788) after Tacitus (Kunst Museum Winterthur / Reinhart am Stadtgarten), and Les Jeux olympiques (The Olympic Games) (1786-1791) after Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Emile (Geneva, Musée d’art et d’histoire). The paintings caused a sensation at the Salon de la Liberté in Paris in 1791. The depiction of the ancient customs that inspired the revolutionary ideal, the austere architecture and the naturalistic poses make these paintings a superb expression of the neoclassicist school.
This small oil painting is a preparatory sketch for the main part of Les Mariages germains. The primary focus is on the celebration of marriage, a subject of great importance in the years preceding the French Revolution. Contrary to Roman custom, the Germanic tradition was for the groom to offer a dowry to his bride. Here, the central figure of the groom has just dismounted his horse to kiss his bride’s hand. The banqueting table is already set on the left. The final version develops the right side of the composition, adding the groom’s party of friends and musicians – and even some cattle.