Glyn Warren Philpot R.A.

(British, 1884-1937)

Le Jongleur Du Notre Dame 50.8 x 40.5 cm. (20 x 16 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
Gwen, Lady Melchett
The Hon. Mrs. K. Wallace
With The Fine Art Society, London, where acquired by the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

Exhibited
London, Royal Academy of Arts, 1928, cat.no.493
London, The Tate Gallery, Paintings and Sculptures by the late Glyn Philpot, 14 July-28 August 1938, cat.no.19
Brighton, Brighton Art Gallery, Glyn Philpot R.A., 3 April-3 May 1953, cat.no.19
London, Leighton House, Glyn Philpot, Drawings, Paintings and Sculpture, 7-28 February 1959, cat.no.35
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Glyn Philpot R.A.: A Commemorative Exhibition, 15 September-28 November 1976, cat.no.19
London, National Portrait Gallery, Glyn Philpot 1884-1937, Edwardian Aesthete to Thirties Modernist, 9 November 1984-10 February 1985, cat.no.41 (ill.b&w)
London, The Fine Art Society, Spring 1987, cat.no.19
London, The Fine Art Society, Glyn Philpot R.A., 17 November 1997-16 January 1998, cat.no.10 (col.ill.)

Literature
R.A. Illustrated, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1928, pl.68 (ill.)
A.C. Sewter, Glyn Philpot 1884-1937, B.T. Batsford, London, 1951, pl.61 (ill.b&w)
J.G.P. Delaney, Glyn Philpot, His Life and Art, Ashgate, Aldershot, 1999, p.85, pl.C18 (col.ill.)

'Deeply felt and successful is Le Jongleur de Notre Dame. A simple, touching work, it reflects a more popular, and sentimental, side of Catholic devotion. Derived ultimately from a medieval mystery play, the story was treated by Anatole France in Etui de Nacre (1892) and by Jules Massenet in an opera (1902) with the same name as Glyn's painting. Jean, having failed as a juggler, enters a monastery out of hunger and discouragement. While all the monks, artists and artisans are labouring to prepare to celebrate the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he resolves to honour the Virgin in the only way he knows, doing his juggling routine before her statue in the chapel. When the scandalized prior and monks try to seize him, a miracle occurs: the statue of Our Lady raises it's hands and blesses the head of Jean who dies in ecstasy. Glyn depicts the Madonna tenderly wiping his sweating face...Unlike no other painting of this period in style or subject, it illustrates clearly how Glyn would choose a style that was appropriate to a particular subject.' (J.G.P. Delaney, Glyn Philpot, His Life and Art, Ashgate, Aldershot, 1999, p.85).