Oedipe and the Sphinx (after Ingres)

Claude Ferdinand Gaillard

In this proof we see the artist puzzling out his vision for this composition, dark strokes of graphite in the background bringing forward the figure of Oedipus into the light as the Sphinx eyes him from the shadow of a cave. As with the original painting of the same name by Ingres, emphasis is placed on the contrast of light and shadow, the classical representation of good and evil, in order to pinpoint the moment in which Oedipus triumphantly untangles the riddle the Sphinx has set before him, thus freeing Thebes.

A red collector’s stamp on the recto is that of Phillipe Burty (Lugt 413 and 2071), one of Gaillard’s first major champions in the critical Parisian art world. On the verso is the collector’s stamp of Henri Beraldi (Lugt 230) and a third stamp, an unidentified blue floral (Lugt 3726)