Lot 1939
JAMES JOSEPH TISSOT (1836-1902)
THE PRODIGAL SON OF MODERN LIFE: THE DEPARTURE; IN FOREIGN CLIMES; THE RETURN; THE FATTED CALF (Wentworth 57-61)
The suite of four etchings, also with the title page showing an open book and the subjects as described in St. Luke, published 1881, from the lettered edition of 400
Each image 31 x 37cm.; the title page (this unframed) 35 x 45cm. (5)
* In 1882, his last year in England, Tissot made The Prodigal Son of Modern Life the ostentatious focus of his one man show at the Dudley Gallery. The original oils are in the Musee des Beaux-Arts, Nantes and this suite of etchings was printed to satisfy keen public demand.
In 1881, Tissot was a Roman Catholic living in sin with a divorced woman, Kathleen Newton, and it is tempting to speculate that a theme like this was a meek attempt at self redemption (or, at least, self justification). More pragmatically, these subjects might have been a mildly disingenuous attempt to re-ingratiate himself with the French market. It was the death of Mrs Newton in 1882 that prompted Tissot's return to Paris after an absence of over ten years.
Tissot's skills are readily apparent in his ability to take a `dry` biblical theme and re-present it in Victorian taste with his usual flair for anecdotal content. He sets the young man's story within the wealthy upper middle class of London in the 1880's and even dresses him in the colours of the I Zingari cricket club for the `Fatted Calf`. In so doing, Tissot translates the parable into a wholly modern format which suited well his fondness for the vagaries of modern life as well as giving him a chance to offer a didactic subject in a refreshingly unacademic format.
