L’Envoûteuse
"L’Envoûteuse", also called "Une sorcière au xve siècle" ("A 15th-century Sorceress") is an 1883 oil painting by French artist Georges Merle.
The painting was purchased by The Art Fund of Birmingham in 2009, with funds provided by William O. Vann, Sally V. Worthen, Robert D. Vann, in memory of their mother, Suzanne Oliver Vann, widow of Young & Vann Supply Co. chairman James Vann Jr.
Georges Merle (1851–1886) was the son of artist Hugues Merle and assisted in his father's studio, which specialized in genre paintings and depictions of female beauties, before painting under his own name. The 57 1/2-inch tall by 45 inch wide canvas is likely to have been inspired by an as-yet unidentified work of literature. The crouched female figure is dressed in rich fabrics and jewels. She holds a forked staff in her right hand and a sculpted hairpin in the left. Another pin is stuck through the chest of a doll or effigy lying at her feet. There is a suggestion of a magical symbol painted on the floor. She is flanked by a lit pillar candle on her right and a table with a skull sitting in a metal basin on the left. The hilt of a long sword rests against the table.
Etymologically, an "envoûteur" (male) or "envoûteuse" (female) is a magician who makes use of effigies (from the Latin "vultus" meaning "facial expression"), as contrasted with an an "enchanteur" (one who makes incantations), an "ensorceler" (a teller or changer of fates), or a "féticher" (a maker of charms).
The ownership of the painting is undocumented before it was put up for action in 2003 through Sotheby's in Paris. The buyer entered the picture in a Christie's auction in London in 2008, but it was not sold. Herner & Co. of London was able to acquire it afterward, and sold it to New York art dealer Jack Kilgore & Co., from which it was purchased by The Art Fund.
External link
- "L’Envoûteuse" at Artsbma.org