Aimé Morot

Military genre, battle scenes

Morot had been attached to the General Staff of the French Army, which had given him ample opportunity to study cavalry men and horses. To study the movement of the horses he used his eye as a camera by the use of a simple device that he could open and close rapidly in front of his eyes to better isolate the movements. 3ème Cuirassiers a Helsass Hausen (1887) and Reischoffen (1887, exhibited in Musée de l'Histoire de France (Versailles))

Society portraits

Aimé Morot loved hunting and travelled extensively. In 1889 he travelled to Morocco in the company of the French novelist and naval officer Pierre Loti, where he made several orientalist drawings. In 1893 he went to India for tiger hunting. He also visited Turkey, Syria and Abyssinia (Ethiopia), where he was refused permission to hunt elephants and lions. In 1900 he visited Niger and French Sudan, where he did hunt and kill a large lion. This resulted in Au Tableau (1902), Morot's Dessert Warrior and the watercolour Fantasia was inspired by his travels to Morocco.

Media Aimé Nicolas Morot, 1878. Portrait for Victoria, watercolor, Villa Medicis, Rome – Italy. Most of Morot's work consists of oil paintings, although he used other media. Aimé Morot was a member of the Société d'aquarellistes Français and submitted the watercolour Hallah to their 1888 exhibition in Paris and painted the Battle of Reichshoffen using watercolours. He also painted the ceiling of the Grand Salon of the Hôtel de Ville in Nancy in 1902. Aimé Morot made various sculptures in marble and bronze. In 1905 he worked on a memorial for Jean-Léon Gérôme, which consisted of a group representing Gérôme working on his Gladiator sculpture. This sculpture was exhibited in the Jardin de l'Infante in one of the courts of the Louvre and is now exhibited in the Musée d'Orsay. At the same time he worked on a portrait of fellow painter Ernest Hébert for display at the Salon de Paris and was selected as a jury member for the next Salon in 1906. His sculptures also include a number of Art Nouveau style women's heads carved in white marble similar to those sculpted by (French, 1850–1920), (French, 1880–1952), Enzo Sighieri (Born 1868), Louis Jacques Gallet (Swiss, 1873–1955), Affortunato Gory (Italian, 1895–1925) and G. Verona.

Colour palette and painting technique

For his oil paintings on canvas, Aimé Morot had a preference for a colour palette consisting of silver white, zinc white, yellow ochre, red ochre, cadmium yellow, cadmium red, raw sienna, burnt sienna, cobalt blue, emerald green, rose madder, carmine lake and ivory black. His painting medium consisted of oil mixed with some turpentine or sometimes with copal. He would start his painting by making a rough outline of the entire subject on a well-dried oiled canvas using a brush or charcoal, then applied the paint. When the completed painting had dried for a long time, he finally applied a light varnish. Une Scène de Déluge, 1872. Musée des beaux-arts de Nancy (in storage), France. Super Flumina Babylonis (La captivité des Juifs à Babylone), 1873. Oil on canvas, 1.45 x 1.13 m, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Daphnis et Chloé, exhibited at the Salon de Paris in 1873. Portrait of J.S. Guilloire, contrôleur en chef de la Comédie-Française, 1874. Oil on wood panel, 0.272 x 0.22 m. Carnavalet Museum, (Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris, Paris). France. Portrait of (1841–1925), sociétaire de la Comédie-Française, 1881. Oil on wood panel, 0.27 x 0.215 m. Carnavalet Museum, (Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris, Paris). Bar-le-Duc, France. Mlle M. d'Épinay, exhibited at the Salon de Paris in 1877. Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, France. Musée des beaux-arts de Nancy (in storage), France. Herodiade, 1880. Temptation of Saint Anthony. Oil on Canvas. Exhibited in the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1881. Portrait of Madame Julia Bartet (1854–1941), sociétaire de la Comédie-Française, 1881. 0.28 x 0.23 m. Carnavalet Museum, (Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris, Paris), Portrait of (1858–1934), 1883. Oil on wood panel, 0.275 x 0.224 m. Sociétaire de la Comédie-Française, Carnavalet Museum, (Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris, Paris), Musée des beaux-arts de Nancy (in storage), France. Self portrait of A-N. Morot, 1883. Drawing published in de Bélina, 1883. Dryade, 1884. Exhibited in the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1884. The wreath of flowers in the frame was modelled by a sculptor who was a friend of the artist. Sold at auction in New York in 1892, from the collection of Mr. Salvador de Mendonca, Brazilian Minister at Washington El Bravo, Toro, 1884. Exhibited in the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1884. Monsieur Jules Claretie administrateur de la Comédie-Française (1840–1913), no date – between 1880 and 1890. Oil on wood panel, 0.35 x 0.24 m, Carnavalet Museum (Musée Carnavalet, Paris), Portrait de Monsieur Victor Hugo, 1885. Oil on canvas, 1.10 x 0.88 m. Maison de Victor Hugo (Hauteville House), Guernesy, France. Reichshoffen, 6 August 1870, 1887. Oil on canvas, 4.30 x 8.00 m. Exhibited in the Salon des Artistes Français in 1887. Palace of Versailles, Musée de l'Histoire de France (Versailles), France. Madame Aline Leon, 1887, Musée des beaux-arts de Nancy (in storage), France. Hallali, 1888. Watercolor. Exposed at the Salon des Aquarellistes Français in Paris, 1888. Passage de l'oued M'Cazen, 1889 Le passage de un Gué, no date. Arabs Attacking an English Outpost; Episode of the war in Egypt. Oil on canvas, 0,74 x 0.92 m. Sold at auction in New York in 1892, from the collection of Mr. Salvador de Mendonca, Brazilian Minister at Washington. Rixe dans un intérieur, no date. Oil on canvas, 0.46 x 0.55 m. Morot also made a watercolour painting of the same scene. Portrait of Mademoiselle M. Gérôme. Portrait of the wife of Mr. Morot on horseback, exhibited at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1890, photograph published in L'Illustration magazine and in Enault (1890) Les danses Françaises à travers les âges (Plafond destiné a l'Hôtel de Ville, Paris), 1892. Exhibited in the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1892. Le reveil de Minet, photograph published in Gil Blas in 1894. Fleur d'automne, 1892. Water colour on paper. Retraite de Saint-Jean-d'Acre (Prairial An VII). Exhibited in the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1893. Portrait of Monsieur Eugénidi, 1895. Portrait of Mademoiselle M. Gérôme, 1895. Portrait of Monsieur Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1897. Portrait of Le duc de la Rochefoucauld-Doudeauville, 1897. Exhibited at the Salon de Paris, 1898. Portrait of Comte de la Rochette, 1898. Portrait of Madame Depret, 1898. Homme Drapé, no date. Signed pencil drawing sketch on paper for Jean-Léon Gérôme, 0.29 x 0.22 m. Portrait of Monsieur Chevalier, 1899. Portrait of Monsieur Édouard Detaille, 1899. Oil on canvas, 1.50 x 0.90 m, Palace of Versailles, Musée de l'Histoire de France (Versailles), Portrait of Josephine Prouvost, no date. Oil on canvas. Portrait of Monsieur Louis Stern, 1900. Oil on canvas. Portrait of Comte Creuzé de Besser, 1900. Portrait of Madame A. C.... Exhibited at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1901. Portrait of Monsieur P. D.... Exhibited at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1901. Retour de la chasse au lion (Au Tableau), 1902. Oil on canvas. Exhibited at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1902. Portrait of Madame Aymé Darblay, 1904. Oil on canvas. Portrait of Mademoiselle Janine Desmarais, 1904. Oil on canvas, 0.83 x 0.60 m. Portrait of Monsieur Gustave Eiffel, 1905. Oil on canvas, 1.41 x 0.99 m, Palace of Versailles, Musée de l'Histoire de France (Versailles) Palace of Versailles, Musée de l'Histoire de France (Versailles), Published as postcard at the salon. Portrait of Monsieur Eugène Goüin. Exhibited at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1909. Portrait of a girl, 1909. Oil on canvas 0.40 x 0.32 m. Private collection M.J. Waterloo, Amsterdam – The Netherlands. Portrait of Baron Edmond de Rothschild. Exhibited at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1910. Frère et Soeur, 1911. Displayed on the cover of the April 1911 edition of L'illustration Souvenir du Maroc (Fantasia), no date. Exhibited at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1911. Published in the April 1911 edition of L'illustration. Ephemère printemps (Les deux psychés). Exhibited at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in 1912. This was the last painting exhibited by Aimé Morot at the Salon just before his death in August 1913.

Bronze and marble sculptures Gérôme sculpting the Gladiators, Monument to Gérôme, Musée d'Orsay, Paris (sculpted by Jean-Léon Gérôme and Aimé Morot) Head bust of Richard Wagner. White marble on stand, signed, height 42 cm. Woman's torso. No date. Bronze, signed. Baigneuse, no date. Bronze, signed, foundry mark C. Valsuani on base. height 45 cm. Head of elegant woman, no date. Sculpted in high-relief against chiseled background in white marble, signed, height 42 cm. Private collection Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Head of young lady, no date. Sculpted in high-relief against chiseled background in white marble, signed, height 12 cm. Private collection Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Buste of Jean-Léon Gérôme, about 1909. Bronze. Musée Georges-Garret, Vesoul. Vénus au bain, no date. Bronze on green marble base, signed, height 22 cm. Private collection, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Head of young lady, no date. Sculpted in high-relief against chiseled background in Carrara marble, signed, height 20 cm. Private collection Amsterdam. Buste de jeune femme (Buste of a young lady), no date. White Carrara marble on stand, signed, height 27 cm. Head of young lady with eyes closed, no date. Sculpted in high-relief against chiseled background in Carrara marble, signed Morot, height 19 cm. Private collection, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Paysanne, no date. Alabaster sculpture of young farmer girl, signed Morot. Height 35 cm. Private collection Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

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