JEAN-PAUL LAURENS (Fourquevaux 1838 - Paris 1921) THE OTAGES Original canvas (stretcher Paul Foinet) Dedicated in Occitan and signed lower right "à l'amic Ate Mercié / l'amic despey Toutjour / Jean-Paul Laurens". The hostages, canvas, signed and dedicated lower right 25 x 32,50 CM - 9,8 x 12,8 IN. PROVENANCE : Sale of the Antonin Mercier estate, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, (Me Lair-Dubreuil), 18-21 January 1918, no. 24. Our painting is a sketch of Laurens' painting "Les Otages" presented at the 1896 Salon and which belonged to the sculptor Antonin Mercié, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (canvas, 113.6 x 146.8 cm). Our work is a token of friendship, as it was a gift from the painter to his friend and compatriot from Toulouse, winner of the Prix de Rome for sculpture in 1868. Their paths were relatively parallel, both having attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse in their youth. They then moved on to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where they worked their way up the academic career ladder. They also worked together on the decor for the Salle des Illustres at the Capitole in Toulouse. Jean-Paul Laurens did not wish to indicate a precise historical or literary source for the subject of his painting; it is a timeless reinterpretation of Paul Delaroche's Child of Edward V, at the Tower of London, in the Louvre (1830). REFERENCE BIBLIOGRAPHY : Catalogue of the exhibition Jean-Paul Laurens, 1838-1921: peintre d'histoire, Daguerre de Hureaux, A., des Cars, L, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1997, pages 114-115.