Antoine-Christian ZACHARIE, known as TONY ZAC (Vienna, 1819 - 1899) Sapho's companions Oil on canvas (Tears and restorations) No frame Sappho's Companions, oil on canvas, by A.-C. Zacharie called Tony Zac 18.31 x 19.49 in. 46.5 x 49.5 cm Provenance: Gérard Lévy Collection ; Then by descent Exhibitions: Salon, 86th official exhibition, Paris, Palais des Champs-Élysées, 1 May - 20 June 1868, cat. no. 2577: "Les compagnes de Sapho". Bibliography: related: Carlier, Sylvie (dir.), cat. exp. Le Symbolisme & Rhône-Alpes, de Puvis de Chavannes à Fantin-Latour, 1880-1920, Villefranche-sur-Saône, Musée municipal Paul-Dini, 17 October 2010 - 13 February 2011, cat. no. 94: "Sapho et ses compagnes" or "Les Compagnes de Sapho", reproduced p.111 Born in Vienne, Tony-Zac entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon in 1840, where he studied under Claude Bonnefond. In 1842, he won a first prize in drawing and a first distinction in painting. His Cantate (cat. no. 2085) was exhibited for the first time at the 1849 Salon and was awarded a third-class medal. Probably exhibited at the 1868 Salon<a href="#_ftn1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> (cat. no. 2577), our mythological composition, depicting Sapho's companions all abandoned to their melancholy, standing or lying on the edge of a cliff, links the artist to the Lyon Symbolist movement. Although it draws some of its inspiration from Charles Gounod's opera Sapho (1851), the work also inevitably refers to Baudelaire's Femmes damnées: "Like pensive cattle on the sand lying, they turn their eyes to the horizon of the seas, And their feet seeking each other and their hands brought together have sweet tongues and bitter shivers<a href="#_ftn2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><i>[2]</i></strong></a>. " <a href="#_ftnref1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Another work by Tony Zac on the same subject is in the Museum of Archaeology and Fine Arts in Vienna (32.3 x 40.2 cm, inv. 903). <a href="#_ftnref2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[2]</a> Charles Baudelaire, "Femmes damnées", in Les Fleurs du mal, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, p. 196. Antoine-Christian ZACHARIE, known as TONY ZAC (Vienna, 1819 - 1899) 46.5 x 49.5 cm Born in Vienne, Tony-Zac entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon in 1840, where he studied under Claude Bonnefond. In 1842, he won a first prize in drawing and a first distinction in painting. His Cantate (cat. no. 2085) was exhibited for the first time at the 1849 Salon and was awarded a third-class medal. Probably exhibited at the 1868 Salon<a href="#_ftn1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> (cat. no. 2577), our mythological composition, depicting Sapho's companions all abandoned to their melancholy, standing or lying on the edge of a cliff, links the artist to the Lyon Symbolist movement. Although it draws some of its inspiration from Charles Gounod's opera Sapho (1851), the work also inevitably refers to Baudelaire's Femmes damnées: "Like pensive cattle on the sand lying, they turn their eyes to the horizon of the seas, And their feet seeking each other and their hands brought together have sweet tongues and bitter shivers<a href="#_ftn2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><em>[2]</em></strong></a>. " <a href="#_ftnref1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> Another work by Tony Zac on the same subject is held at the Museum of Archaeology and Fine Arts in Vienna (32.3 x 40.2 cm, inv. 903). <a href="#_ftnref2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[2]</a> Charles Baudelaire, "Femmes damnées", in Les Fleurs du mal, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, p. 196.