Disturbing revelations that do not fail to animate the world of culture. As the Sunday Times reports in an article spotted by Courrier international, a possible high-value work of art depicting Molière, hitherto unknown to experts, has recently been the subject of much research.
It all started with a letter written by British author Charles Dickens, which will be auctioned on May 10 in New York. In his missive, written in French in 1848 and addressed to the French actor François Regnier, the famous English writer informs him that a painting representing the death of Molière (deceased on February 17, 1673), is in progress by one of his friends.
In order for this portrait to be as precise as possible, Charles Dickens asked François Regnier for help. “My dear, no one else understands the genius of Molière better than you,” he wrote. While never naming the artist working on this mysterious portrait, The Sunday Times suggests it could be Charles Robert Leslie or William Powell Frith, two Victorian narrative painters who depicted other aspects of the work of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin.
Asked by our colleagues, Dr Leon Litvack, a researcher at Queen’s University of Belfast, specialist in the work of Dickens, explains that this is the first time that this work has been mentioned. There is “no trace of a painting of the playwright’s death in their catalogs or in the archives of the Royal Academy exhibitions in 1849 and 1850”, just after the letter written by the British author, points out Dr. Leon Litvack.
If the portrait was made and found, it could be worth “hundreds of thousands of pounds” given its connection to Charles Dickens, the expert believes. There is no doubt that the hunt for this prestigious painting has only just begun.